Emily Petricola: Q&A with ARA Australian Cycling Team

With a whopping 11 world championship titles to her name, Emily Petricola is one of Australia's most decorated para-cyclists.

With 10 of those titles on the track, her career highlight was winning the rainbow jersey in the road time trial in 2019.

That, and of course, her paralympic gold medal she won at Tokyo in the C4 women's pursuit on the track.

Before she competes at her second Paralympic Games in Paris, get to know more about ARA Australian Cycling Team athlete Emily Petricola.

Full name? Emily Jane Louise Petricola

Nickname/s? Pepsi/Em

Age? 44

What is your hometown? Melbourne 

What is your home club? St Kilda Cycling Club

Do you have any pets? A miniature poodle called Simba (which is actually a girl!)

What's your favourite movie/TV show/ or book? Movie: Shawshank Redemption, book: The Power of One

Best concert you have been to? Beyoncé

What's your cheat meal? Lasagne and garlic bread

What's your coffee order? Strong skinny cap

What's your ideal holiday? Enjoying the sunshine somewhere warm!

When and how did you learn to ride a bike? Too long ago to remember

How did you get into the sport competitively? I’m one of five kids - we were competitive about sport from the minute we existed

What's your favourite place/track to ride? Italy is my favourite country to ride - the roads are fast and the people are generally pretty tolerant of cyclists…. And the food & coffee! Favourite track…probably Izu in Tokyo - it was fast and fun to race on

Who is/was your sporting idol? Cathy Freeman was when I was young, then James Tomkins - he was always looking to be better which I really admired

What has been one of your career highlights? Winning Paralympic gold was special obviously, but winning the Road Time Trial World Championship in 2019 was really a watershed moment for me.

What do you hope to have achieved by the end of your career? I want to leave Paracycling knowing I’ve helped improve visibility and awareness of the sport and what it offers everyone

If I wasn't a rider/cyclist, I'd be ... teaching