By Duncan Mackay

Melissa Stockwell wins 2012 ITU World Championships Auckland October 22 2012November 8 - Melissa Stockwell has been named as the female Athlete of the Month for October by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) following her gold-medal winning performance at the 2012 International Triathlon Union (ITU) Paratriathlon World Championships.


The 32-year-old from Chicago, an Iraq war veteran, won her third consecutive International Paratriathlon World Championships title in the TRI-2 category in Auckland.

Stockwell won in convincing fashion, finishing more than four minutes clear of her closest competitor and covering the course in 1 hour 22min 14sec. 

A first lieutenant, she was the first woman soldier to lose a limb in the Iraq War. She lost her left leg when a roadside bomb exploded when she was leading a convoy in Baghdad

Stockwell is one of five finalists for the International Paralympic Committee Athlete of the Month for October. 

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