 2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Gallagher | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1986-03-14)14 March 1986 (age 39) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country | Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Alpine Skiing Field athletics Track cycling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jessica Gallagher (born 14 March 1986) is an AustralianParalympic alpine skier, track and field athlete,tandem cyclist and rower. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at theWinter Paralympics at the2010 Vancouver Games. She competed at the2014 Winter Paralympics inSochi, where she won a bronze medal in the women's giant slalom visually impaired.[1]
She is legally blind, and represents Australia internationally in three sports: skiing, athletics and cycling. Besides her skiing achievements, she has represented Australia in athletics at the2012 Summer Paralympics in London, and won a silver and a bronze medal at the2011 Christchurch IPC Athletics World Championships in long jump and javelin, respectively. She has also represented the state of Victoria as a junior in netball and basketball. Gallagher was selected in the Australian cycling team with her pilotMadison Janssen for the2016 Rio Paralympics.[2] Her "long term goal is to be the first Australian to medal at a summer and winter Paralympics or Olympics".[3] This was achieved when she won a bronze medal in the women's B/VI 1000m time trial in Rio.
She has been selected in track cycling at the2024 Paris Paralympics- her fourth Paralympics (two winter and two summer).[4]
Gallagher was born on 14 March 1986 and lives in the Geelong suburb ofHighton.[5] In 2009, she graduated fromRMIT University with a Master ofOsteopathy,[6] and is a registered osteopath.[5][7]
At the time of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympics, she was dating the American Paralympic sitting ski slalomerGerald Hayden.[8] She is an ambassador for theAustralian Paralympic Committee,[9]Vision Australia,[10]Seeing Eye Dogs Australia,[11] Vision 2020 Australia,[12] Kx Pilates[13] and 2XU.[13]
She is legally blind due toBest's disease, a rare condition.[6][14] She started to lose her eyesight when she was a teenager, having received the results of tests while she was competing at the U17 national netball championships.[15]
Gallagher was selected to compete at the2008 Beijing Paralympics in long jump, 100m, shot put and discus, but she failed her classification test because the classifiers said the eyesight in her right eye was 0.01% better than it needed to be. In November 2009, her classification was revisited due to deterioration of her vision and she was deemed eligible to compete.[14][16]
Gallagher was appointed to the Board of Vision 2020 Australia in June 2015 and is also a member of its Member, Finance and Audit Committee.[17]
In March 2018 she was inducted into theVictorian Honour Roll of Women.[18] In December 2023, Gallagher was awarded Honorary Doctor of Social Science byRMIT University.[19]
She playednetball and basketball with able-bodied competitors,[20] having first participated at the elite level in both sports as she started to lose her vision.[21] In netball, she was agoal keeper andgoal attack, represented Victoria several times and was named as an emergency for the Australian U16 team. In the Victorian league's Championship Division, she represented both Palladians and Altona Lightning. In basketball, she represented the Geelong Cats for five years and also represented Victoria Country. At that time, her goal was to become a professional netball or basketball player. As well, she played netball in theGeelong Football Netball League, representing South Barwon and Leopold. Despite her low vision and missing one third of the games due to her Paralympic training program, she won the A grade Best and Fairest Award in 2007, representing Leopold.[citation needed]
Gallagher is also a snowboarder, having taken up the sport while on a working holiday inVail, Colorado before she found out about theWinter Paralympic Games.[14]
Gallagher was the first Australian woman to win a medal at theWinter Paralympics, and Australia's second female Winter Paralympian.[22] She was given the opportunity to compete at the highest levels in skiing after being identified during a talent search and because of her snowboarding experience. As she is blind, she competes with a guide withEric Bickerton being her first guide.[5] She is coached bySteve Graham,[16] who also coachedMichael Milton[23] and is the current head coach of theAustralian Institute of Sport's Winter Paralympic program.[24][25] Her Australian training base is at theVictorian Institute of Sport's training centre located atLakeside Stadium in South Melbourne.[26] While actively training six days a week, her individual training sessions will last between two and three hours each a total of ten to twelve sessions by the end of the week.[27]
Gallagher first represented Australia in 2009 at the New Zealand Winter Games, where she won a gold medal. In January 2010, she competed at her firstIPC Alpine Skiing World Cup event in Austria and won a bronze medal in slalom.[5][13] Before the start of the 2010 Games, she had competed in nine World Cup events.[16] On her 24th birthday,[16] she won a bronze medal at the Vancouver games in the women's slalom visually impaired event,[28] becoming the first Australian woman to do so.[22] In her first and second time down the hill, she finished third both times,[22][29] She also competed in the women's giant slalom visually impaired event at the 2010 Games,[28] finishing seventh after headset issues that caused problems with communication.[30]
In 2013, at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup inThredbo, New South Wales, several weeks after taking on her new guide,Christian Geiger, she won two silver medals in giant slalom and slalom.[5] At the2014 Sochi Paralympics, Gallagher (guided by Geiger) won a bronze medal in the women's giant slalom visually impaired and came seventh in the women's giant slalom visually impaired.[1]
She has been in the Australian Institute of Sport Alpine Skiing Program since 2009.[31]
Australia's National Sports Museum put several items related to her on display after her bronze medal win at the 2010 Vancouver Games.[10]
Gallagher is an athletics competitor,[9] competing in long jump, discus, shot put, javelin and sprinting,[20][27] She became involved in athletics after learning about the Paralympics.[15] At the skills assessment, the classifiers had her try shot put and, despite being dressed in casual athletic attire, she managed a throw that met the Paralympic qualifying distance.[15] After a year of training, she increased this initial distance by 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) to have a personal best throw of over 12 metres (39 ft).[15] She holds several records in the F13 classification, including Australian and Oceanian records in the long jump, javelin and shot put, and an Australian record in discus.[6] In athletics, her coaches have included Mike Edwards andJohn Boas. In January 2011, she competed at the2011 Christchurch IPC Athletics World Championships, where she finished second in the long jump and third in the javelin throw event, with a throw of 33.75 metres (110.7 ft). Her appearance at the championships marked her return to the sport after having taken a break to compete in skiing.[32]
At the2012 London Paralympics, Gallagher competed in the women's long jump F13 and women's javelin throw F12/13 events, finishing fifth and sixth respectively.[28][33][34] Gallagher was disappointed with these results, having suffered a severe tear in hermeniscus during training that forced her to use crutches in the month leading up to the competition.[35]
In a 2014 interview Gallagher expressed what competing at Summer and Winter Paralympics meant to her. She said:I love the unique cultural experience each host city brings. Ultimately, competing for your country on the world's biggest sporting stage is a pinnacle. It brings memories and experiences that last a lifetime.[36]
Gallagher was encouraged to take up cycling byVictorian Institute of Sport coach Glenn Doney. The decision to transfer to cycling was made easier after her favourite athletics event, the long jump, was not included on the2016 Rio Paralympics athletics program. Gallagher believes that track cycling is easier than downhill skiing. She said: "Being a skier, the guide is not connected to me like on a tandem and so I need to ski at high speeds under incredibly intense variabilities that constantly change. The velodrome is a stable environment."[3] At the 2016UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships inMontichiari, Italy, Gallagher and her pilotMadison Janssen made their international debut. They won the gold medal in the women's Sprint B in world record time and the bronze in the women's 1 km Time Trial B.[37][38] In September 2016, she became the first Australian to medal in both the Summer and Winter Paralympics when she won a bronze medal in the women's B/VI 1000m time trial at the2016 Summer Paralympics inRio de Janeiro with Janssen. They finished ninth in the women's individual pursuit B.[39]
At the2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships,Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, withMadison Janssen she won silver medals in the women's tandem time trial and sprint.[40]
At the2019 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships inApeldoorn, Netherlands, withMadison Janssen she won the silver medal in The Women's Tandem Spring and finished fourth in the women's Time Trial.[41]
At the2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, Gallagher won gold medals in the women's tandem sprint B and time trial B with pilot Caitlin Ward.[42]
At the2022 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships inSaint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, with Caitlin Ward won two silver medals – Women's Sprint B and Women's Time Trial B.[43]
At the2024 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with Caitlin Ward won two bronze medals – Women's Sprint B and Women's Time Trial B.[44]
At the2025 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she won the gold medal in the Mixed Team Sprint B, silver medal in the Women's Tandem Sprint B and the bronze medal in the Women's Tandem Time Trial. Her pilot wasJacqui Mengler-Mohr.[45]
Gallagher withAlexandra Viney,Tom Birthwhistle,James Talbot andTeesaan Koo (cox) finished fourth in the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four at the2022 World Rowing Championships.[46] At the2023 World Rowing Championships, Gallagher with her crew of Tom Birtwhistle,Harrison Nichols, Susannah Lutze, and cox Teesan Koo, finished fourth in the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four.[47]
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