Mel Pemble of Victoria, BC just won two gold medals and set a world record on the way to becoming a first-time omnium champion at her debut Para-cycling track world championships.
When Mel was 18 year old old she was one of Canada’s youngest females to represent in para-alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. At only 22 years old she just shattered the competition on Thursday’s 200 metre sprint, won the Women’s WC3 scratch race on Friday and had a fourth place finish in France this weekend.
Mel finished the omnium championship with 150 points, two more than her top female competitors from the Netherlands and the United States. The omnium is a highly competitive four-event pure-endurance competition with all disciplines taking place in a single day. The four events are the scratch race, elimination race, points race and the tempo race. What an incredible feat for such a young athlete.
In the overall Omnium event, a combined four races, Mel Pemble wins GOLD; her second at the 2022 Para Cycling Track World Championships.@CyclingCanada @CanadianTire Sports Analytics pic.twitter.com/H38ZuSIJ7X
— Canadian Paralympic Team (@CDNParalympics) October 23, 2022
Pemble was born with cerebral palsy and immigrated to the Island from Lancashire, England, with her family in 2009.
Her family thought it might be helpful for her to get into a physical activity and chose skiing. Mel admitted in a recent interview to being terrified the first time she hit the slopes in Mount Washington.
But she overcame her fear to win two gold medals in the B.C. Winter Games and then two medals as a 14-year-old at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George.