Ms Parton's sort of athlete (9)
I believe the answer is:
sportsman
'athlete' is the definition.
(I know that athlete can be written as sportsman)
'ms parton's sort' is the wordplay.
'sort' is an anagram indicator.
'ms'+'partons'='mspartons'
'mspartons' with letters rearranged gives 'SPORTSMAN'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for sportsman that I've seen before include "He engages in physical games" , "player" , "Eg, athlete" , "Male athlete" , "Game fellow" .)