Noelle Malkamaki

Started: "Eighth grade is when I realised this is something I wanted to keep doing. But I never realised until probably my junior year [of high school] that I would be able to continue doing this in college. I think I would've considered myself primarily a discus thrower for the first, probably, six or seven years that I was involved in throwing. I did both [discus and shot put] the whole time but I always preferred discus, all the way up through high school and into my second and most of my third year of college. What really gravitated me toward shot put is getting involved in Para sport. For my classification, they don't offer discus. So, it was like, 'OK, if I'm going to do this post-collegiate, it's going to have to be in the shot put'. And then as I did more of it, I think I let myself realise that this is probably better for me anyway." (Keep The Flame Alive podcast, 13 May 2024; depaulbluedemons.com, 05 May 2020) Reason: She took up throwing in middle school. "There was a girl that transferred to my school that was really good at track but didn't want to join alone. So she and I were kind of like, 'If you do it, I'll do it'. And we both joined the team. I only chose throwing because I knew I didn't want to be a runner." (usparatf.org, 22 Aug 2023; magazine.depaul.edu, 19 Jun 2023; depauliaonline.com, 25 Sep 2022) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. She also wants to continue setting world records. (teamusa.com, 17 Jul 2024; magazine.depaul.edu, 19 Jun 2023) Awards: She received the 2023 Female Sports Performance Iron Demon Award from DePaul University in Chicago, IL, United States of America. (DePaul Sports Performance & Nutrition Instagram profile, 20 May 2023) Additional Info: WORLD RECORD PUSH She set a women's F46 shot put world record of 13.32m at the 2023 World Championships in Paris, France. "When I throw at a Para meet, odds that I get first are very, very high. The odds that there's a world record broken are pretty high. I want to push this record so far out there that nobody can ever touch it. That's the perspective I feel like I've had to take on because otherwise how do you find the motivation to keep going? There's always a personal record to be achieved regardless of what place you're in." (teamusa.com, 17 Jul 2024; paralympic.org, 01 Jan 2024) NON-PARA COMPETITION She competed in non-Para athletics for DePaul University while also representing the United States of America in Para athletics. "For a long time, I wasn't sure I was disabled enough to do it [Para athletics], I was a complete outsider. It wasn't even like I was looking in from the outside; I just didn't have the information. I didn't have any idea or understanding of how everything worked. Among the other athletes on the US Para team who are also in college sports, we're all able to talk to one another and make each other feel secure. We can all tackle this together and work through some of these confusing feelings together. I don't have to be two different athletes. I'm one athlete that takes up space in both [athletics and Para athletics], and that's okay." (usparatf.org, 22 Aug 2023; wgntv.com, 05 Jul 2023; magazine.depaul.edu, 19 Jun 2023; depauliaonline.com, 25 Sep 2022)