Discipline: Para Alpine Skiing
Paralympic Participation: Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022
Achievements: Bronze Super Combined and Giant Slalom PyeongChang Winter Paralympics, three Gold, four silver and four bronze medals won at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships 2011-2019
Medal awarded in: 2022

Melissa Perrine is Australia’s first and only female Paralympian to compete in four Winter Paralympic Games.

She is also the most decorated winter para-athlete for Australia, having won two bronze Paralympic medals in PyeongChang, along with four Gold, four silver, and four bronze International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Alpine Skiing World Championships medals.

Melissa is a classified B2 visually impaired para alpine skier. She gets direction on the course from a guide who uses a microphone and speakers to communicate with her on the course.

During her skiing career she studied and worked in Physiotherapy and Exercise Science.

Her first taste of international competition was in 2009 with sighted guide Andy Bor. Together with Bor, she placed 5th and 7th in two of her events at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympics. 

In 2011, she became the first Australian woman to win an IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships medal when she won a silver medal in the downhill. She went on to win two additional medals at the Championships, two bronze medals in the Super G and Super Combined. 

At the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics, Perrine was close to the medals with a fourth in the downhill and struck some bad luck in her other events.

She had a very successful 2015 World Championships campaign, winning three gold medals, one silver and one bronze with her guide Bor, amazingly winning a medal in all Alpine events. 

At her third Paralympics, she won her first Paralympic medal by winning the bronze medal in the Combined with her guide and coach Christian Geiger. The pair followed it up with an additional bronze medal in the Giant Slalom the next day. She had three other top five finishes at the Games, with a fourth in the Slalom, and fifth in both the Downhill and Super-G. Perrine was given the honour of the Closing Ceremony flag bearer due to her achievements at PyeongChang.

With her new guide Bobbi Kelly, Perrine won the gold in the Super Combined, silver medals in the Giant Slalom and Super G and bronze in the Slalom at the 2019 World Championships. This lead Perrine and Kelly to be named 2019 Snow Australia’s Paralympic Athlete of the Year and Female Para-athlete of the Year at the AIS Awards later that year. 

At the 2022 Beijing Paralympics, where she was also the joint team captain and carried the flag at the opening ceremony, she finished sixth in the Giant Slalom with guide Kelly. 

After her final Paralympic and career race, Perrine told Paralympics Australia “it’s been an epic 12 years. I spent 12 years at the top of my sport. Not many athletes can say that. I’ve been in the top five in my sport for the past 12 years.