Melissa Stockwell (@mstockwell01 on Instagram), competed in the 20008 Beijing Paralympics as a swimmer, and in the 2016 Games in Rio in the paratriathlon where she won a bronze medal. She's also a three-time ITU Paratriathlon World Champion (2012, 2011, 2010), and four-time USA Paratriathlon National Champion (2018, 2013, 2012, 2011). In 2013, she completed her first IRONMAN.
Stockwell graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2002, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army's transportation corps. While deployed in Iraq in 2004, her vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb and she lost her leg. She was the first female soldier to lose a limb in the Iraq War, and was later honoured with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
Although she competed as a swimmer in the 2008 Paralympic Games, Stockwell decided to switch her training to focus on the triathlon. She is a USA Triathlon Level I certified coach, and is on the board of directors for the Wounded Warriors Project, USA Triathlon Foundation, and the USA Triathlon Women's Committee.
Personal motto: "You haven't come this far to only get this far."