It almost goes without saying that no athletes epitomize courage and commitment more than those in Para sports. Two Para athletes from the Island continued to burnish their burgeoning credentials ahead of the Paralympics — cyclist Mel Pemble of Victoria for the 2024 Summer Paralympics this year in Paris and snowboarder Tyler Turner of Campbell River for the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
Turner made good use of provincial home-snow advantage this week to win two gold medals in the World Cup event on Big White near Kelowna to earn the Crystal Globe for the second consecutive year as season points leader in the LL-1 snowboard-cross category.
Turner, who had both legs amputated below the knees after a skydiving accident at Woodwynn Farm in Central Saanich in 2017, won gold and bronze medals in the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics and will be looking for more at Milan-Cortina in 2026. Turner competes on prosthetic legs on the snowboard on Mount Washington and on the surfboard in Tofino.
Meanwhile, Canada finished with four medals, with Pemble winning two of them, in the Para-Cycling Track World Championships that ended Tuesday on the Olympic Velodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Island wheeler finished with silver and bronze medals. Pemble captured the silver medal in the women’s C-3 500-metre time trial in 39.573 seconds, which was only 0.093 seconds behind gold-medallist Xiaomei Wang of China and ahead of Aniek Van Den Aarsen of the Netherlands. Pemble added a bronze medal in the women’s C-3 omnium event while also placing fifth in the C-3 individual pursuit and sixth in the scratch race.
The other Canadian medals came from Keely Shaw of Midale, Sask., with bronze in the women’s C-4 individual pursuit, and Hayward of Quispamsis, N.B., with a silver medal in the men’s C-3 scratch race.
“All in all, these are great performances from our athletes,” Canadian team coach Sébastien Travers said in a statement.
“We are accumulating a lot of key learning as well as a better understanding of the priorities ahead in preparation for the Paralympic Games.”
Pemble’s results continue her strong season after she won gold and silver medals last fall in the 2023 Para Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, in the C1-3 3,000-metre individual pursuit in a Games record time and the silver medal in the C1-5 individual time trial.
The Islander looks well on her way to be becoming a rare Winter and Summer Paralympian this summer in Paris after representing Canada in skiing at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics.
Pemble was born with cerebral palsy and immigrated with her family to Victoria from Lancashire, England, in 2009, and began skiing on Mount Washington as a kid. She switched to cycling on the 1994 Commonwealth Games velodrome in Colwood and now sets her sights on the velodrome track for the 2024 Paris Summer Paralympics.
It looks to be a strong Paralympics cycle for Island athletes with Turner on beam for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games. Looking to leave their calling cards at Paris this summer are Pemble, veteran two-time Paralympics medallist Trevor Hirschfield of Parksville and Santiago Paralympics silver-medallist Byron Green of Merville in wheelchair rugby, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics gold-medallist runner Nate Riech of Victoria, 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold-medallist swimmer Nic Bennett of Parksville, Paralympics silver medallist-runner Liam Stanley of Victoria and Santiago Pan Am silver-medallist runner Michael Barber of Victoria.
