From Darkness to Gold: How Paralympic Champion Lizzie Jordan Found Her Perfect Fuelling Partner

Lizzie Jordan woke from a three-month coma in 2017 without her eyesight. A rare form of E. coli food poisoning had stolen her vision and nearly her life. Eighteen months later, she ran the London Marathon. Today she's a six-time world champion and Paralympic gold medallist — and she's discovered something that transforms how she fuels on the bike.

Redefining Possible

"I wanted to really push my boundaries and achieve something without my sight that I never even had with it," Lizzie says. That mindset is everything. After waking from multi-organ failure, after learning to walk again, after navigating a world without vision — Lizzie didn't just survive. She soared.

Marathon running led to tandem cycling, where she rides as the stoker behind a sighted pilot. A strict training programme with British Cycling followed. Then came Paralympic gold at Paris 2024, six world championship titles, and a career that shows no signs of slowing.

The Challenge Hidden in Plain Sight

Try this: close your eyes and unwrap an energy gel whilst cycling at 30mph. For most athletes, grabbing fuel mid-ride is automatic. Tear, squeeze, done. For Lizzie, it was a performance barrier that threatened every long ride.

"Being blind, it's really hard to get a gel in my mouth or even really unwrap one. The gels end up everywhere, rubbish everywhere, wrappers everywhere, gels all down my front."

When you're on a tandem, synchronisation with your pilot is everything. Fighting with gel packets whilst maintaining rhythm? That's not sport — that's chaos.

One Bottle, Zero Compromise

"I was really excited when I came across the Dualfuel bottles because they are the perfect answer."

One bottle. Two chambers. Flip a dial: gel or water. No wrappers. No mess. No waste.

"It's so easy just to grab my bottle and flip the little dial and I can have some gel or I can have some water. During races, I don't feel the pressure of getting a gel quickly in my mouth anymore because I know I've got it straight there, on demand."

The wearable gel pouch clips to her wrist. "If I'm cycling along, I can simply hold it up to my mouth. I've got it straight away, instead of faffing around trying to get gel out my back pocket." Simple. Intuitive. Exactly what elite sport demands.

Why This Matters for Every Cyclist

Whilst Dualfuel solves Lizzie's specific challenge, it solves the same problem for everyone. "My pilot that I ride with often struggles to get gels out of his pocket," Lizzie notes. "So I'd think even for anyone really, it would be really helpful."

The best design isn't about working around limitations — it's about making things work better for everyone. No more sticky fingers. No more gel wrappers stuffed in pockets. No more choosing between hydration and fuel. Just clean, simple performance when you need it.

From a coma to Paralympic gold. From sighted to blind to unstoppable. Lizzie Jordan has proven that with the right mindset and the right equipment, boundaries are just suggestions — and she's doing it all whilst keeping her hands on the handlebars and her gel wrappers out of landfill.