PARALYMPIC heroine Stephanie Millward admits her glittering career may well be brought to an end by British Swimming’s decision to axe her funding.

The 35-year-old, from Corsham, has won nine Paralympic Games medals, including golds in the S8 100m backstroke and 34-point 4x100m medley relay in Rio last summer, but the direction of the next chapter of her story has been cast into doubt after she was left out of British Para Swimming’s ‘Podium programme’ for 2017.

In the build-up to her successful campaign in Brazil, Millward was one of 22 athletes selected to receive the highest level of funding from UK Sport last year but the Wiltshire star has been left out of a reduced list of 14 athletes for 2017, as well as the 18-strong ‘Podium Potential programme’, who receive significantly less.

Like several other high-profile swimmers, Millward has appealed against her omission and despite holding a philosophical outlook should the final result, which is expected next Tuesday, not tally with her ambitions of continuing to represent her country at the highest level, she is facing up to the prospect of her career concluding.

“I’m on my second appeal. The first one was to British Swimming and that was one rejected,” said Millward, who is currently training for next month’s National Para-Swimming Championships in Manchester with the Bath-based Aquae Sulis club.

“The comments that I got back for the first appeal were interesting. Let’s just say that there seemed to be a bit of bias against age.

“I won one of my medals by five seconds, so you could say that I’ve got a five-second head start.

“If I don’t win my appeal, I’d probably have to find a sponsor or maybe work a part-time job, or even a full-time job. To be honest, it would probably be the end of my career.

“It’s not easy but I’m just concentrating on doing what I love to do because of swimming at the moment and that’s things like going in to schools and trying to inspire the next generation – that’s what’s important.

“I just have to wait and see what happens. I suppose that maybe it will be the right time for me to stop swimming and I’ll just have to concentrate on inspiring people.”

Five-time gold medallist Ellie Simmonds, 24, has been left off the 2017 ‘Podium programme’ list as she takes a break from competition while, like Millward, Rio gold medallists Susie Rodgers, 33 and Claire Cashmore, 28, have been omitted.

Jessica-Jane Applegate, Stephanie Slater and Alice Tai have been bumped down to ‘Podium potential’ level.

However, 38-year-old Sacha Kindred, who won his seventh Paralympic title in Rio, has successfully won an appeal against his omission from the ‘Podium’ squad.