| Mel Nicholls | |
| Club: | Coventry Godiva Harriers |
| Birth Date: | 1977 7, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Worcester, United Kingdom |
| Sport: | Wheelchair racing |
| Coach: | Job King [club] Paula Dunn [national] |
| Event: | sprint middle distance |
| Paralympics: | 2012 |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Melissa Nicholls (born 17 July 1977) is a British wheelchair athlete specialising in middle-distance events in the T34 classification.[1] Nicholls competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympics and won a silver medal in the 800m at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships.
Nicholls was born in Worcester in 1977.[1] She studied Equine Science at Hartpury College and works as a teaching assistant at Winchcombe Abbey School.[2] [3]
Nicholls was involved in a serious car accident which left her with heart complications.[2] From 2001 she had a series of strokes, while a stroke in 2008 left her unable to use her left arm and leg.[2] [4] In April 2009 doctors discovered a hole in her heart for which she underwent corrective surgery.[2]
In 2020, Nicholls had a 5 kg ovarian tumour removed at Cheltenham General Hospital.[5]
Nicholls first wheelchair race was at Stoke Gifford at an open event in 2010.[1] In 2011, she was classified as a T34 athlete and that summer attended multiple meets across Britain as well as events in Switzerland and Netherlands competing in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m races.[1] By early 2012 Nicholls had posted a sub-21 second 100m sprint and qualified for the Summer Paralympics in London, as part of the Great Britain team, in both the 100m and 200m events.[1] In the 100m she was drawn in the first heat but her time of 22.41 saw her fail to progress to the final.[1] In the 200m heats she finished fourth and qualified for the final.[1] Nicholls finished seventh with a time of 40.00.[1]
In 2014 Nicholls represented Britain in the IPC Athletics European Championships in Swansea. There she won her first major international medals, with a bronze in the T34 100m, and a silver in her favoured 800m event.[1] In the 800m Nicholls finished just a second behind teammate Hannah Cockroft with a time of 2:16.68.[6]
In 2019, Nicholls set a new world record, handcycling from Land's End to John O'Groats in under seven days. In 2021, she undertook a 75-day, 4,800-mile handcycle journey around the coast of the United Kingdom, starting and finishing in her hometown of Tewkesbury, and raising £1,590 for Ovarian Cancer Action.[5]