Cyclist Shawn Morelli wins Team USA's first Paralympics gold medal in Rio

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:13 p.m. ET

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Allyssa Lee

Cyclist Shawn Morelli has won Team USA's first gold medal of the Rio Paralympics with a first-place finish in the 3000-meter individual pursuit event on Thursday.

Morelli's American teammate Megan Fisher took the bronze.

This is the first Paralympic Games for the 40-year-old Morelli, a U.S. Army vet who was seriously injured by an IED when she was deployed as an engineer officer in Afghanistan in 2007.

Suffering neck, nerve damage, brain trauma and blindness in her left eye did not deter Morelli from living her life, however: Her first cycling competition was at the Warrior Games in 2010, and she has since broken the women's C4 pursuit world record at this year's UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships. Oh, and she's also working on a PhD. in public and community service.

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