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| National team | Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | April 22, 2000 Lancashire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | melpemble | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Disability class | C3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| World finals |
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Medal record
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Melissa "Mel" Pemble is a Canadian para alpine skier and para cyclist. She won back-to-back gold medals in omnium C3 at the 2022 and 2023 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships. She won two medals in para-cycling at the 2023 Parapan American Games.
Pemble was born in Lancashire, England with cerebral palsy affecting her right side. [1] Her parents thought it would be good for her to take up a sport to help with her balance and coordination. [2] She moved to Victoria, British Columbia at age 9 with her parents. [3] She twisted her knee after an early skiing lesson in France, but took up para-skiing again after moving to Canada. [1]
Pemble graduated from the Canadian Sports School-Victoria. [4]
At the 2015 Canada Winter Games, Pemble won the women’s Giant Slalom Para female race. [5] She also won a silver medal in slalom para alpine skiing at the Games. [6]
Pemble competed at the 2018 Winter Paralympics as the youngest Canadian skier at the games. [7] She finished eleventh in women's giant slalom, [8] and women's super-G, [9] and ninth in women's downhill [10] and women's super combined. [11] She did not finish in women's slalom. [12]
She competed at the 2019 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships. Pemble made the decision to end her para-skiing career in 2020. [1]
When she was 14, the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific's Podium Search program identified Pemble for para-cycling. She competed at the provincial level and used the sport as cross-training for skiing. She was coached by Kurt Innes, who later coached her upon her return to the sport in 2020 after a five-year break from the sport. [1]
She made her world debut in para-cycling competing at the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, at which she won a gold medal in omnium [13] and scratch race. [14] [15] She set a para-cycling world record in the non-medaled 200-metre sprint in 2022. [16] [17] She also placed third in the 500m time trial and fourth in the four-kilometre individual pursuit. [1]
At the 2023 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Pemble won gold in omnium, a bronze medal in the time trial event, and a silver in the women’s C3 scratch race. [18]
Pemble competed at the 2023 Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile. She won the gold medal in the women's 3,000-metre C1-3 individual pursuit. [19] She finished fourth in the women's individual road race C1–3 [20] and seventh in the women's individual road time trial C1–5. [21]
She won a silver medal in the women’s C3 500m time trial and a bronze medal in the women's C3 omnium at the 2024 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships. [22] Also at the 2024 UCI Para Cycling Championships, Pemble placed 5th in the Individual Pursuit and 6th in the Scratch Race. [23]
Pemble is set to compete in para-cycling at the 2024 Summer Paralympics. [24]
