Emily Petricola - Class Of 1998
PROUD TO WELCOME EMILY TO THE LORETO STAFF
Emily feels incredibly lucky to have attended Loreto Toorak, learning life lessons and feeling empowered to be a strong female with a voice. She was elected House Sports Captain of Ward and was involved in the Rowing program, which helped shape her into the woman that she would become, teaching her skills in teamwork, leadership, organisation, time management, and the value of hard work.
After leaving school, Emily completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English and Politics, returning to university many years later to complete a Masters of Teaching (Secondary). She worked as a teacher at a British International School in the UAE for three years, before returning to Australia.
When Emily was 27 years old she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. After many years of not being able to exercise due the complications of increased core temperature from the disease, a friend, Australian Olympic Rowing representative Matthew Ryan, introduced her to a WattBike, and she started training while keeping her temperate under control. In 2015, Matt then encouraged her to investigate competitive racing as a para-cyclist, and suggested she aim for the Tokyo Games.
Emily began competing locally and within two years had been selected to her first international team. She broke the world record in her first international Individual Pursuit race at the Para Cycling Track World Championships in Rio in 2018 and took home a silver (Individual Pursuit) and a bronze (Individual Time Trial). In 2019 she beat her world record and collected gold (Individual Pursuit) and bronze (Scratch Race) at the Track World Championships, before being selected to her first Road World Championship team and winning gold in the Time Trial in Emmen, Netherlands. Earlier this year she travelled to Milton in Canada where she picked up three gold medals in the Individual Pursuit, the Scratch Race and the Omnium events.
Emily is currently based in Adelaide at the High-Performance headquarters for Cycling Australia, preparing for the Para Cycling Road World Championships in Belgium, and, she hopes, the Paralympics in Tokyo. In the rare moments when she is not on her bike, Emily loves to read.
*Emily won the Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit C4, setting a world record time of 3:38.061 in the qualifying for the gold medal race in the Paralympics Tokyo 2020 Games. She won a silver medal in the Women's Road Time Trial C4 and finished tenth in the Women's Road Race C4–5.
**In 2022 Emily was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to sport as a gold medallist at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
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