Melissa is a member of the UK Sport Lottery Funded British Paratriathlon Squad and won a bronze medal the 2016 Rio Paralympic games. She competes with a guide athlete in the PTVI category. Cycle training is the most challenging aspect for a visually impaired athlete, leading her to spend many hours training on a static turbo trainer to overcome this.
Melissa was born in Nottinghamshire and moved to Cornwall when she was ten. She got into triathlon through her dad, having previously taken part in surfing, swimming and surf live saving. Her swimming background makes her one of the strongest swimmers in the class for visually impaired athletes.
Melissa is a member of Gyllngvase club and also works as a swimming teacher. She was first selected for the British Triathlon Paratriathlon squad in 2012 having finished second at the 2011 ITU World Championship Series in London.
She competed for ParalympicsGB at the Rio 2016 Paralympics Games, which was her first Paralympic Games, and she won bronze with Nicole Smith guiding her. In the final stretches of the race they were in fourth place, but Nicole noticed that the American pair ahead of them were starting to fade. Their rivals unfortunately tripped, and Melissa and Nicola were able snatch the bronze medals in a dramatic finish.
Major Results
In 2013 Melissa won both the World and European titles with guide, Nicole Walters, whom she competed with in Rio.
