Mel Nicholls: Para-triathlete aiming for Paris 2024 Games after whirlwind year

Mel Nicholls has already represented Great Britain at two Paralympic Games, in 2012 and 2016, in wheelchair racing

Former wheelchair racer and hand cyclist Mel Nicholls says she became a para-triathlete by "accident" as she targets a spot in the 2024 Paris Games after only a year in the sport.

The 45-year-old represented Great Britain in wheelchair racing at London 2012 and in Rio in 2016.

Yet, after joining her local triathlon club "for fun" Nicholls has rapidly risen through the sport's ranks.

She is now targeting a spot at the Paralympics next summer.

"I've never been a swimmer. I'd do a bit of swimming as part of my recovery in the pool but that was about it," Nicholls said.

"I joined my local triathlon club just for a bit of social time really, to train with other people. I was training on my bike and it was just to get in the pool and maybe learn to swim a bit better.

"There was a bit of talk about me doing a triathlon but, to be honest, I had no plans to do it.

"Now I'm under the world-class programme, working hard with the rest of the squad for, hopefully, Paris next year. That will be absolutely incredible."

'Way out of my comfort zone'

Nicholls, from Tewksbury in Gloucestershire, also won a silver medal at the World Para Athletics Championships in 2015 and broke multiple world records on the track before moving into marathon and endurance wheelchair racing.

At the same time, Nicholls took up handcycling and in 2017 she was selected for British Cycling's para-cycling programme.

In recent years she has taken to ultra-endurance events, often self-supported - in 2019 she set a world record by handcycling from Land's End to John O'Groats, and two years later hand cycled 4,800 miles around the UK coast.

Para-triathlon represents a whole new challenge, however.

"Put me in the sea or a lake where I have to swim to start a race - that is way out of my comfort zone. I would say this is my biggest challenge," Nicholls said.

"I hadn't closed the door to another Paralympic Games but I hadn't considered that I would go to another, either. It has all been a bit of a whirlwind, the last year."

Nicholls, who is unable to walk due to a series of strokes during her 20s, won her first triathlon in May 2022. Wins followed at World and European Triathlon Para Cup rounds, with a place in Paris now a real possibility.

"Even though I am experienced in two of the three elements, triathlon is very different. It's a different set of skills you need and the courses are very technical," Nicholls added.

"And I don't think I'd call myself a swimmer yet. I'm still working on it."