Melanie Woods (born 12 August 1994) is a Scottish teacher and wheelchair racer who competed at the postponed

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, 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 Inte ...

in Tokyo. She was fifth in the 800m (T54).

Life

Woods was born in about 1994 and she was interested in cycling, the gym and horse riding. She came to notice after an accident in 2018. She was working as a PE teacher in Glasgow and while she was out on her bike in Inverness a car drove into her. When the ambulance arrived she was face down and she said she knew that her lower body was out of her control. Her pelvis and back was broken and one leg was broken three times and without its skin. Woods was paralysed below the waist. She spent her recovery in the spinal unit of

Queen Elizabeth University Hospital The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) is a 1,677-bed acute hospital located in Govan, in the south-west of Glasgow, Scotland. The hospital is built on the site of the former Southern General Hospital and opened at the end of April 2015 ...

in Glasgow. During her recovery she watched the paralympics and she decided that she would try to compete. She found the paralympians dedication an inspiration and a motivation. She tried wheelchair tennis and swimming and even travelled abroad to ski, but it was

wheelchair racing Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and field, track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, including leg amputees, spinal cord injuries, and cerebral palsy. Athletes are c ...

that she took as her sport. She joined the Red Star Athletics Club in Glasgow where she trains everyday with her own coach and with

Sammi Kinghorn Samantha May Kinghorn (born 6 January 1996) is a British World Champion wheelchair racer and TV presenter. At the 2024 paralympics she won a gold medal. Personal history In December 2010 Kinghorn was crushed by snow and ice which fell from the ...

as a training partner.

Career

She competed at the Inter-Spinal Unit Games in 2019 and then with the aid of charity she bought her own racing wheelchair and very light carbon fibre wheels. Woods went to Poland to compete at the

2021 World Para Athletics European Championships The 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe and a refugee team with one athlete. This was ...

. Fellow Scots took four golds and Woods competed over four days in four events. It was her first competition as a senior and she came fifth in the final of the women's 800m T54. At the end of June she was in Manchester for the British Athletic Championships where she was third in a mixed classification 400m wheelchair race behind

Hannah Cockroft Hannah Lucy Cockroft (born 30 July 1992) is a British wheelchair racer specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification and TV presenter. She holds the world records for the 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, ...

and

. She was among nine Scottish athletes who were chosen to compete at the postponed

. She and most of the names were announced in July 2021. The others were

Samantha Kinghorn Samantha May Kinghorn (born 6 January 1996) is a British World Champion wheelchair racer and TV presenter. At the 2024 paralympics she won a gold medal. Personal history In December 2010 Kinghorn was crushed by snow and ice which fell from th ...

Libby Clegg Elizabeth Gemma Clegg (born 24 March 1990) is a British Paralympic sprinter and tandem track cyclist who has represented both Scotland and Great Britain at international events. She represented Great Britain in the T12 100m and 200m at the 2 ...

Jo Butterfield Joanna Butterfield (born 19 March 1979) is a British parasport athlete who competes in the F51 club and discus throw. In 2014 Butterfield set a European record in the club while winning the event at the 2014 IPC Athletics European Championshi ...

Maria Lyle Maria Lyle (born 14 February 2000) is a retired para-athlete from Scotland who competed mainly in T35 sprint events. At the age of 14 she set a world record in the 200m sprint, a record she has broken on several occasions. In 2014, she qualifi ...

, Owen Miller,

Derek Rae Derek Rae (born 9 April 1967) is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter. He currently works for ESPN and ABC in the United States for the English-language coverages of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, and La Liga and Deutsche Fußball ...

Stef Reid Stefanie McLeod Reid (born 26 October 1984) is a track and field paralympian who competes for Canada and Great Britain, competing mainly in category T44 long jump and sprint events. A multiple medal winner at European and world level, she wo ...

and Ben Rowlings. For her and Owen Miller it would be their first paralympics, but for others like Libby Clegg this was her fourth. She is coached by Rodger Harkins who was Scottish Athletics Performance Director in 2018. She was pleased with her fifth place in the T54 800m in Tokyo as she had only recently returned to the sport. She took two seconds off her time in the Paralympic heats to get a personal best time of 1:50.40. At the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

, she came 4th in the 1500m T53/54. At the

2023 World Para Athletics Championships The 2023 World Para Athletics Championships was a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was the 10th edition of the event and was held in the Charlety St ...

, she came 10th in the 400m T54. At the

2024 World Para Athletics Championships The 2024 World Para Athletics Championships was a para-athletics meet organized by the World Para Athletics, the respective sport branch of the International Paralympic Committee. This was the 11th edition of the event and was held at Kobe Univ ...

, Melanie came 4th in both the 400m and 1500m and 7th in the 800m T54. Melanie was selected to compete at the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

, held in Paris, France. She came 6th in the T54 800m and 8th in the T54 1500m.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Melanie 1994 births Living people Scottish female wheelchair racers British female wheelchair racers Paralympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games People with paraplegia Sportspeople from Glasgow 21st-century Scottish educators 21st-century Scottish women educators Educators with disabilities 21st-century Scottish sportswomen