Interview with Mel Nicholls, GB para-athlete, ahead of the IPC World Championships in Doha

I had a number of strokes and the last stroke, back in 2008, was the one that took my mobility and stopped me from being able to run and cycle. Even whilst I was still in hospital I was looking for any sport that I could take part in so I could get out and get fit. I looked into and took part in a lot of disability sports and in 2010 wheelchair racing came about when I saw UK athletics were running a ‘come and try day’ where I was invited. So I roped a friend into coming with me on a road trip to Leeds and I tried it, still never thinking of it as anything more than a replacement for my nightly jogs around the block as I didn’t fully understand what I could do with it. A few months later I was lent a chair from Dame Tanni Grey and Ian Thompson and it went from there. I started training and my coach spotted me and got me classified and we have been working together since then!

Only 15 months after I started wheelchair training, I was selected for the Paralympics for Great Britain at London 2012. It was definitely something that I wanted from the start; I had dreamed of it and I did everything I could, trained as hard as I could, as at the time that’s all I wanted. I didn’t tell anyone at the beginning but I was so determined to be there. Once selected, it became very real, yet I often remember my time at the games like the best dream you’ve ever had, but you’re awake. It was an amazing experience, without doubt a once in a lifetime achievement competing at a home games. I didn’t medal at London, but it was always about going there as my first major championships, getting experience and learning for the future. The following year I was again selected for GB at the World Champs in Lyon, France where I finished 5th in my 2 sprint classes (100m and 200m) and for the Europeans in Swansea last year, where I won bronze in the 100m, which I certainly never expected because that’s my hardest discipline! I also won a silver medal in my 800m. 

In 2013 I broke the T34 1500m world record and I have broken it twice more since. 

T34: T for track, the thirty category is the cerebral palsy, neurological impairment group and because I have a brain injury from the strokes, I am classed in that. Truly a T34 is diplegic, with both legs affected, whereas I’m more hemiplegic as it’s my left arm and left leg affected, as well as my balance and stability. There is a wide range of classifications within the category that I compete against.

Proudest achievement... there’s so many! There are a few for different reasons: Making the London Games was incredible because there’s never going to be another London - Rio is going to be incredible, it’s going to be colourful and Tokyo will just be out of this world but there will never be another London, so I am so grateful I was there and I was able to be a part of it. Just getting selected and being there was incredible. Also my first major championship medal at the Europeans, bronze for the 100m, is really special to me because I never expected it and I had some stuff going on at home the week before, so it was just what I needed and it meant so much to me to get that. Then breaking the world record was pretty incredible too!

It’s a fantastic place here - I love science and I love to know what’s happening and how to get the best out of myself and to know and understand more about how I’m working and perhaps, how I’m not working. We have identified some weaknesses, I already knew they were there but they’re very specific so that’s really great to know, going into winter training. We have done cognitive testing which is brilliant for helping tactical elements in races, especially when you are fatigued. We have also done some sweat testing to know how much fluid I’m using and what I’m losing in that fluid. It’s the little things like that- before I came to the HPL, I would drink electrolytes before a race, but it wasn’t measured and now I know exactly how much I should be taking on and how much sodium I need. It is those little differences that can make a difference during a race when you hit that wall and think ‘I can’t’, but by preparing as best as you can, you give yourself the best chance during the race. It’s a fantastic facility here and I am just so grateful I am able to use it.

I’m hoping the sessions are giving me the worst case scenarios! A couple of times it has been pretty tough, but it is getting easier and I am sweating more, which although unpleasant must be a good thing! You don’t realise how tough the heat and humidity is... You do your sessions and know how long they normally take and how long recovery takes, but in the heat and humidity you have to find the balance between pushing on and giving your body adequate rest. I know when I do my race it takes just over 2 minutes, so that is fine, but the training for it out there will be tough, 3 weeks in the heat, but you have to keep going. After my sessions here my head has been spinning and I have been feeling quite sick and at home you normally just get on with it, but after the heat and humidity you have to let your body recover a little bit more. These sessions are definitely testing me, but they are also preparing me well for Doha! 

We don’t get to choose unfortunately, for Paralympic sports at major championships you get given your distances. It depends on what / how many other people in your category are racing and the world rankings; I’m not a sprinter at all so I’m glad that the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) put in a longer race (800m). I will be concentrating on the 800m as my main distance and the 400m is an added extra that I can go for. I would love to compete in the 1500m but they don’t have that distance at major championships unfortunately.

I think it’s going to be the environment - having been to a few major championships now I’m used to the logistics and organisation, making sure everything goes to plan. I’m quite good at being left to my own devices and I’ve got my routine and know what I need to be doing and where I need to be; you can control the controllables, as they say, but the weather you can’t control and you can’t control your competitors either. I’m there to do my job and think about what I’m doing and that is why I am here (at the HPL), training in these conditions, trying to get used to the heat. We went to Doha for a couple of days after training in Australia, earlier this year, and everyone started coughing immediately because of the dust. It gets in you when you are training and racing and I think that’s going to be pretty tough but it’s hard for everybody, not just for me, we just all have to get on with it! 

I want to be happy with my own performance mainly, that’s the most important thing. This year hasn’t quite gone to plan because I’ve had a bit of a niggle with my shoulder, so I haven’t been able to do the races that I wanted to. I have spent a lot of time in physio and rehab but I’m out of that now and feeling a lot better, but not where I would’ve liked to have been. But, I am stronger and I am not in pain, so if I can get good times for myself and end in a good position, and not get injured, then that’s a great start ahead of preparations for Rio. I have a big winter ahead, where I can work on those little weaknesses and then I can get that medal in Rio! A medal in Doha would be amazing, but it’s going to be tough, definitely.