Lara Baars

Lara Baars is a Dutch Paralympic athlete competing in shot put and discus throw events. She was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. She won the gold medal in the women's shot put F40 event at the 2024 Summer Paralympics held in Paris, France.

Career

At the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Baars won the silver medal in the 2015 [IPC Athletics World Championships – Women's shot put|women's shot put F40] event.
Baars represented the Netherlands at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and she won the bronze medal in the Athletics at the [2016 Summer Paralympics – Women's shot put|women's shot put F40] event.
At the 2018 [World Para Athletics European Championships] in Berlin, Germany, Baars won the silver medal in the 2018 [World Para Athletics European Championships – Women's shot put|women's shot put F40] event and the bronze medal in the 2018 World Para [Athletics European Championships – Women's discus throw|women's discus throw F41] event. The following year, she competed in the 2019 [World Para Athletics Championships – Women's shot put|women's shot put F40] event at the 2019 World [Para Athletics Championships] held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates where she finished in 5th place with a new personal best of 7.47 m.
Baars won two medals at the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland: she won silver in the shot put F40 event and bronze in the discus throw F41 event.