Emily
Petricola

In 2007, following the sudden onset of numbness throughout her body, Emily Petricola was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She was 27. Subsequent and frequent MS attacks severely impacted her ability to function as she had before. Further debilitating symptoms – including extreme fatigue, temporary loss of sight, foot drop, pain, tremors, tingling and numbness through her body – rendered basic tasks challenging and incapacitated Emily for a number of years.

Having always been involved in sporting pursuits before the onset of MS, and encouraged by her network of supporters, Emily remained determined to participate in physical activity. In 2015, her friend and colleague, two-time Olympian Matt Ryan, offered to oversee her training along with another good friend, five-time Olympic cyclist Shane Kelly, and emboldened Emily to dream big. The seed of the Tokyo Paralympic dream was sown!

Emily made her national team debut in 2018 at the Track World Championships and won a bronze medal in the 500m Time Trial and a silver medal after breaking the world record in qualifying in the Individual Pursuit. From there she has gone on to win a further four world titles on the track and her first world championship title on the road in the Individual Time Trial in 2019.

At her Paralympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, she took to the Izu Velodrome to win a gold medal in the women’s 3000m individual pursuit C4. With a blistering time of 3:38.061 in the qualifying round of the event, she beat the world record that she previously set at the 2020 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships by almost six seconds.

She then added a silver to her Paralympic medal haul, coming in second in the women’s road time trial C4 behind American Shawn Morelli.

Bringing her Tokyo campaign to a close with the 79-kilometre women’s road race C4-5, she battled wet weather on the rain-soaked Fuji Speedway to finish in 10th position with a time of 2:32:58.