The passing of Melissa Dennis at the age of 32 has deeply shaken the cycling community. The Australian athlete dedicated several years of her life to road and track cycling, even achieving the title of junior world champion in 2009.
Debut at the London Olympics
Under the name Hoskins, the cyclist made a mark on the Australian track cycling scene from 2008. Throughout her career, she won numerous national titles and achieved the status of junior world champion in 2009. Later, she solidified herself as one of the best in the world in this discipline.
In 2012, she made her debut at the London Olympics, where she narrowly missed out on the bronze medal, as Australia was defeated by Canada in the medal contention.
World Record in Team Pursuit
In partnership with Annette Edmondson, Ashlee Ankudinoff, and Amy Cure, Hoskins became the world champion in the team pursuit in 2015. This achievement, accomplished in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines near Paris, gained additional significance due to the new world record (4:13.683).
Throughout the 2012, 2013, and 2014 seasons, she also accumulated several medals in World Cups, notably excelling in the team pursuit event, although she secured an individual silver medal in the Scratch in 2012.
Road Cycling Career
Hoskins, over her career, also took part in road cycling competitions for several years. In 2011, she joined the Belgian Lotto-Honda team and later competed for four seasons in the Orica-AIS, the predecessor of the current Jayco AlUla team.
In 2012, she secured the overall classification at the Tour of Chongming Island and earned a medal in the Team Time Trial at the World Championships for three consecutive years: silver in 2012, bronze in 2013, and silver again in 2014. Additionally, she achieved a second-place finish in the Tour Down Under in 2015.
In 2017, she concluded her cycling career, and in February 2018, she married Rohan Dennis, taking the name Melissa Dennis. The couple has two children.