Growing up Miranda Melville was an active child. She played soccer, and was into horseback riding. She almost played lacrosse, but luck for us cross country and track were better fit and that is where she stayed. She was always a kid who wanted to run around, and was a part of her elementary schools running club. Throughout high school she also ran cross country, steeple chase, 3000m, and the 1500m.

She started race walking during her freshman year of high school during the indoor track and field season. She was just trying lots of events and at first was a bit hesitant to try race walking because of the name and the technique. In high school she wanted to blend in, not stick out. That changed after her first race. She really liked the challenge. She states she “wasn’t some hot shot natural at it.” However, the event became her thing and niche very quickly.

Her high school coach, Mike DeMay, was very supportive. He recommended to Melville’s mother that she meet with someone with more knowledge on the event so could reach her potential. Her mom then took her to Boston for a race walking clinic with Dave McGovern. This clinic was her first real introduction to the larger stage of the event. It was the first time she had a chance to see it as an Olympic event and be educated in what it takes to be at that level. While there Dave watched Melville and in his words “you could be an Olympian one day.” That planted a seed. Melville has so much gratitude for her high school coach who had her try this event, and helped her grow in it at a young age; and for Dave who really opened her eyes and showed me a path she didn’t know was there.

Miranda kept her success and priorities in their proper place. She doesn’t recall what her first big race was and was more focused on simply balancing school work, social life and her athletics throughout her high school race walking experience. It wasn’t until college that she really started paying attention and drawing from previous experiences.

While NAIA colleges typically have the best support for race walking, given that it’s an event in their college conference, Miranda chose to attend the University of Wisconsin- Parkside, which was DII. Parkside was a school with a strong tradition of producing great race walkers. Their coach at the time, Mike DeWitt, had and impressive resume of Olympians to his credit. Miranda describe the transition to College as tough, but Coach DeWitt offered a great opportunity to run cross country, and race walk in the track seasons. She went from an environment that she was familiar with to the exact opposite. She had only raced 1500m distance in race walk in high school. However, right from the start during her freshman year she had to start racing 10km. She credits DeWitt with making the transition each and successful, stating “because of his guidance I had a very excellent year.” She was the USATF Junior National champion, won USA vs Canada dual meet, and participating in her first big USATF race walk team to Chebeksary, Russia. The successful transition gave the momentum to move to the 20km and focus on the Olympic distance.

By the end of her time at Wisconsin - Parkside she received a BS in psychology and biology, was 1 second off the Olympic B standard, and ranked 4th woman in the US. The future looked promising. Miranda had big decisions to make. She was no longer fearful of new situations. Coach Tim Seaman invited her to join the training group in San Diego. Seaman gave her 1% chance to make the 2012 Olympic team, but was willing to coach her if she made the move out to the west coast. So, she did. She initially committed to only being for there for the year. In the end, she turned that 1% chance into a 99% chance. She worked really hard. She claims she was “young, naive, and unsure of my potential/worth.” However, she worked hard. On July 1, 2012 she showed up ready to race at the Olympic trials. In one of, if not the most exciting US Race Walking Olympic trials races she battled Maria Michta for the sole spot on the 2012 Olympic Team. She missed the team by 2.2 seconds in a fierce battle that had the two side by side going into the last half of a lap. Miranda spent the next 4 years making up for that 2.2 seconds, and she did that with Coach Seaman. The move to Southern California and training under Coach Seaman changed her life.

Four years later, with the Olympic A time standard achieved, the Olympic trials were a matter of going through the motions, granted some very fast motions. Miranda qualified for her first Olympic team and competed in the Rio Olympics in 2016. She raced well reaching her dream. “You get to see something so rare. What you see on TV is only a small glimpse. It’s so overwhelming, emotional, and the culmination of dreams coming true for everyone. Nothing compares, and nothing will because any other experience will not be the same. Other significant moments will be monumental and wonderful, but in their own way” states Melville about her experiences in Rio.

Melville trains every day. She only takes a day off every 4-6 weeks. When she was younger she used to look down on taking a day off. Now she realizes she has to be realistic. It is needed. Depending on the time of year she could do up to 90 miles a week, but usually she is usually around 75 or 80. She performs full body strength training 3 times a week as well, and 2 days a week is dedicated as a regen day. On top of that she tracks what she eats, and intake of macronutrients and makes sure to sleep and stretch enough. She does all of this while balancing a 30 hour work week. Her days are long!

Her favorite workouts are repeats like performing a 5km,4km,3k,2km, 1km with two min break between each rep, and each rep getting faster as well as 3X 1km, 800m,600,400m, 200m (each set faster than the last). These workouts always make her feel fast, and allows her to have fun with them.

Her goals now are simple in concept, but difficult to implement when you’ve already achieved such success. Melville says she “just wants to improve. If possible just improve my PR’s and hopefully make a second Olympic team.”

20K US Ranking by Track and Field News

2009 - 4th
2010 - 8th
2011 - 4th
2012 - 2nd
2013 - 3rd
2014 - 2nd
2015 - 2nd
2016 - 2nd
2017 - 2nd
2018 - 2nd

50K US Ranking by Track and Field News

Not Ranked 

Major U.S. Championships (Indoors)

Coming Soon

Major U.S. Championships (Outdoors)

Coming Soon

2018 - World Race Walking Team Championships (Taicang, China)
2017 - Pan American Race Walking Cup (Lima, Peru)
2017 - World Championships ( London, England)
2016 - Race Walking World Cup (Rome, Italy)
2016 - Olympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
2015 - Pan American Race Walking Cup (Arica, Chile) 2015 - Pan American Games ( Toronto, Canada)
2015 - World Championship (Beijing, China)
2014 - Race Walk World Cup (Taicang, China)
2013 - World Championship (Moscow, Russia)
2012 - Race Walk World Cup (Saransk, Russia)
2010 - Race Walk World Cup (Chihuahua, Mexico) 2010 - NACAC U23(Ft. Lauderdale, USA)
2008 - Race Walk World Cup (Chebeksary, Russia)
2008 - USA Vs. Canada (Vancouver, Canada)

"Pursue your passions and don’t be afraid to dream big. You never know where it will take you and what you will learn. "