| Melissa Reid | |
| Nationality: | British |
| Sport: | Paratriathlon |
| Birth Date: | 15 November 1990 |
Melissa Reid (born 15 November 1990)[1] is a visually impaired British paratriathlete who competes in the PTVI classification. She is a Paralympic bronze medallist and a former World and European Champion. She is based in Falmouth in Cornwall.[2] [3]
Reid competes with a guide athlete in the PTVI category and was first selected for the British Triathlon Paratriathlon squad in 2012 having finished second at the 2011 ITU World Championship Series in London.[4] Reid won her first national gold at the GBR Paratriathlon National Championships in 2013.[5] She became ITU World Champion in 2013 and won the ETU European Championships in 2013 and 2017. She also competed for ParalympicsGB and won a bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games in 2016 in the Women's PT5 class for visually impaired athletes.[6]
The 2017 season, saw her win gold at the Kitzbühel ETU Triathlon European Championships,[7] she also won two bronze medals one at the Yokohama ITU World Paratriathlon Series[8] and one at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Rotterdam.[9] Reid suffered a prolapsed disc towards the tail end of 2017 which put her out of contention for 18 months.[10]
Despite the injury, her 2019 return saw her win two golds at the Besançon ITU Paratriathlon World Cup[11] and the Magog ITU Paratriathlon World Cup.[12] Reid went on to claim three consecutive silvers at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Lausanne,[13] [14] Tokyo ITU Paratriathlon World Cup[15] and the Valencia ETU Paratriathlon European Championships[16] in 2019.
During the COVID-19 lockdown she decided to switch her guide partner to Hazel Smith[2] who had experience working with paratriathlete Alison Peasgood (then Alison Patrick) when she became world champion.[17] Together they had to work out how they could train together for each of the three disciplines.[2]
Reid was born in Nottinghamshire and moved to Cornwall when she was ten. She is a member of Gyllngvase club and was introduced to triathlon by her father, having previously taken part in surfing, swimming and surf life saving.[10]
The following list of results.[18] Unless indicated otherwise, the competitions are triathlons.
| Date | Competition | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-09-14 | Valencia ETU Paratriathlon European Championships | 2 | |
| 2019-09-01 | ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Lausanne | 2 | |
| 2019-08-17 | Tokyo ITU Paratriathlon World Cup | 2 | |
| 2019-07-13 | Magog ITU Paratriathlon World Cup | 1 | |
| 2019-06-16 | Besançon ITU Paratriathlon World Cup | 1 | |
| 2019-05-18 | Yokohama ITU World Paratriathlon Series | 3 | |
| 2017-09-15 | ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Rotterdam | 3 | |
| 2017-06-16 | Kitzbuhel ETU Triathlon European Championships | 1 | |
| 2017-05-13 | Yokohama ITU World Paratriathlon Series | 3 |
DNS = Did not start
DSQ = Disqualified