Emily Petricola (born 24 April 1980) is an Australian

Paralympic cyclist Para-cycling (or Paracycling) is the sport of cycling adapted for cyclists who have various disabilities. It is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The sport consists of seven different events which include road and track races. T ...

. She is a world record holder and gold medallist at the 2019 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships and the

2020 Tokyo Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic ...

Personal

In 2007 at the age of 27, Petricola was diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

. She used to teach English in a private school. She is a qualified English and humanities teacher.

Cycling

Petricola is classified as a C4 cyclist. In her first major international competition at the

2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships The 2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships were the World Championships for track cycling with athletes with a physical disability. The Championships took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 22–25 March 2018. 31 events were held on the ...

in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she won the silver medal in Women's Pursuit C4 and the bronze medal in the Women's 500m Time Trial. In the Women's Pursuit C4 heats she set a world record time of 3:54.501. In 2019, she relocated from Melbourne to the Australian Cycling Team headquarters in Adelaide. At the

2019 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships The 2019 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships were the World Championships for track cycling with athletes with a physical disability. The Championships took place in Apeldoorn, Netherlands from 14 to 17 March 2019. The championships Apeldo ...

in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, she won the gold medal in the Women's Pursuit C4. After breaking the world record in qualifying, in the final she overtook her opponent to win the gold. She also won the bronze medal in the Women's Scratch Race C4. At the

2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships The 2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships is the World Championships for road cycling for athletes with a physical disability. The Championships took place in Emmen in The Netherlands from 11 to 15 September 2019. Medalists Medal ta ...

Emmen, Netherlands Emmen () is a municipality and town of the province of Drenthe in the northeastern Netherlands. History A planned city, Emmen arose from several small farming and peat-harvesting communities which have dotted the province of Drenthe since the ...

, she won the gold medal in the Women's Time Trial C4 and finished fifth in the Women's Road Race C4. At the 2020 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Milton, Ontario, she won three gold medals - Women's Individual Pursuit C4, Women's Omnium C4 and Women's Scratch Race C4. Petricola in her first Paralympic Games in 2020Tokyo, won the Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit C4, setting a world record time of 3:38.061 in the qualifying for the gold medal race. She won the silver medal in the Women's Road Time Trial C4 and finished tenth in the Women's Road Race C4–5. Petricola won the silver medal in the Women's Time Trial C4 and did not finish the Women's Road Race C4 at

2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships The 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships is the World Championships for road cycling for athletes with a physical disability. The championships took place in Baie-Comeau in Canada from 11 to 14 August 2022. Medalists Men's events ...

in Baie-Comeau. At the

2022 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships The 2022 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships were held from 20 to 23 October 2022, at the Vélodrome National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. Results Men Women Mixed Medal table References {{reflist External linksResults

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles (new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen to ...

, France, she won three gold medals - Women's Pursuit C4, Women's Scratch Race C4 and Women's Omnium C4.

Recognition

* *2023 - 2022 – Medal of the Order of Australia for service to sport as a gold medallist at the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020 *2022 - AusCycling - Women’s Track Para-cyclist of the Year *2022 - Australian Institute of Sport - Female Para-athlete of The Year *2023 -

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succe ...

Para Athlete of The Year

References

External links

* *
Emily Petricola
at Cycling Australia (archived)
Victorian Institute of Sport Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petricola, Emily 1980 births Living people Paralympic cyclists for Australia Australian female cyclists People with multiple sclerosis Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian women 21st-century Australian women Place of birth missing (living people)