Mel Pemble
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Full name | Melissa Pemble-Chubb-Higgins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Lancashire, England | April 22, 2000|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home town | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | melpemble | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport |
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Disability class | C3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
Early life and education
[edit]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]
Career
[edit]Para-skiing
[edit]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]
Para-cycling
[edit]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 as Melissa Pemble-Chubb-Higgins. 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]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Smart, Zack (2022-11-12). "Mel Pemble's journey from Winter Paralympian to Para-cycling world champion". cbc.ca.
- ^ Dheenshaw, Cleve (2018-03-09). "She took up skiing to help with cerebral palsy, now she's at Paralympics". Times Colonist. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ Dheenshaw, Cleeve (2023-11-26). "Pemble's gold caps six-medal performance by Island athletes at Para Pan Am Games". Victoria Times Colonist. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ Dheenshaw, Cleve (2019-05-25). "Canadian Sport School-Victoria a pipeline to national teams". Times Colonist. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ Dheenshaw, Cleve (2015-02-17). "Pemble gives Island first medal at Canada Winter Games". Times Colonist. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ Dheenshaw, Cleve (2015-03-01). "Islanders made mark at Canada Winter Games". Times Colonist. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ Depner, Wolf (2018-02-26). "Saanich skier reaching for top of podium in South Korea". Saanich News. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ "PyeongChang 2018 - alpine-skiing - womens-giant-slalom-standing". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
- ^ "PyeongChang 2018 - alpine-skiing - womens-super-g-standing". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
- ^ "PyeongChang 2018 - alpine-skiing - womens-downhill-standing". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
- ^ "PyeongChang 2018 - alpine-skiing - womens-super-combined-standing". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
- ^ "PyeongChang 2018 - alpine-skiing - womens-slalom-standing". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
- ^ "Canadian Para-cyclist Mel Pemble crowned omnium world champion". CBC. 2022-10-03.
- ^ "Mel Pemble hauls in 1st Canadian gold medal at Para-cycling track worlds". cbc.ca. 2022-10-21.
- ^ Hansen, Matt (2022-10-21). "Para-cycling world championships day 2: Mel Pemble wins scratch". Canadian Cycling Magazine. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ "Pemble Wins Rainbow Jersey at Para Cycling World Championships". Cycling BC. 2022-10-21.
- ^ Dheenshaw, Cleve (2022-10-21). "Victoria cyclist eyes Paris 2024 after gold medal at world championships". Times Colonist. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ "B.C.'s Mel Pemble clinches women's C3 omnium title at worlds". The Globe and Mail. 2023-08-08. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ "GOLD MEDAL: Victoria's Mel Pemble captures 3,000m C1-3 individual pursuit Parapan Am title". CBC. 2023. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
- ^ Hansen, Matt (2023-11-28). "Canadian Paracyclists take more two medals at Parapan Am Games road races". Canadian Cycling Magazine. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ "Women's C1-5 Individual Time Trial Results" (PDF).
- ^ "Canada's Mel Pemble claims bronze in omnium at Para track cycling worlds in Rio". CBC. 2024-03-23. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
- ^ "Canada wins four medals at UCI Para Cycling World Championships in Rio | Canadian Paralympic Committee". Paralympic Canada. 2024-03-26. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
- ^ "6 years later, B.C. athlete heads back to Paralympics". CBC. 2024-08-05. Retrieved 2024-08-08.
- Living people
- Canadian female alpine skiers
- Paralympic alpine skiers for Canada
- Alpine skiers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics
- Canadian track cyclists
- Canadian female cyclists
- Cyclists at the 2023 Parapan American Games
- Cyclists with cerebral palsy
- 2000 births
- People from Lancashire
- Medalists at the 2023 Parapan American Games
- Cyclists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics