Athlete. National Record-Holder. Paralympian. Founder, Born to Run Foundation

As a scholarship-winning college athlete and the top scorer on her university’s Lacrosse team, Noelle Lambert was familiar with victories and with turning failures into valuable lessons – in sports and in everyday life. After losing her leg above-the-knee in a 2016 moped accident, her toughest challenges to date eventually became what she now considers to be one of the greatest opportunities of her life.

After her accident, Noelle substituted rehab for lacrosse. She received her first sports prosthesis, provided by a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation, and worked out with a single-minded focus on getting back to her team as quickly as possible. “Sports were always a huge part of my life. Right away, I had this mindset where I was going to return to the field any way I could,” she said.

The following season, she was cleared by the NCAA and returned as a competitive player, becoming the first above-knee amputee ever to play lacrosse at the collegiate level.  She scored a goal the first game she took the field.

Noelle discovered during her rehab workouts that she also had speed and talent… as a runner.  She met Paralympian, Team Össur member and fellow Boston-area resident Femita Ayanbeku, who began mentoring her.  She also credits her prosthetist, Jason Lalla of Next Step Bionics & Prosthetics for helping with her rapid recovery, as she says, “Since Jason is also an amputee, it helps me tremendously because he knows exactly what I need and what I am going through.”

After graduating from college in 2019, with her coach and Femita encouraging her, Noelle set an audacious goal: just two years after her amputation, she wanted to qualify as a member of Team USA and compete at the Tokyo Paralympics. During her first track meet ever, she defeated the reigning national champion and qualified for the U.S. Paralympic Nation Track & Field team. She went on to compete at the World Championships in Dubai, where she placed 4th in the world and set a new U.S. record in the 100m T63 category. In 2021, she was also named a member of Team Össur, and continues to train alongside teammate Femita.

“I love my Cheetah, because it allowed me to become faster. And my whole experience has shown me that you really can do whatever you put your mind to. I didn’t want to let this accident define who I was or who I wanted to become. No one ever needs to settle just because they are an amputee,” Noelle says.

Off the track, Noelle started the nonprofit Born to Run Foundation, which provides specialized prosthetics to children and young adults. Among her many accomplishments both as an athlete and through her foundation, in 2020 she was named the National Honoree for the international Women of Worth program, sponsored by L’Oreal.

As Noelle says: “Today, I’m grateful for my accident. I view it as a positive because it changed the type of person that I was. It made me think about what is important in life.”

Whether it’s giving specialized prosthetics to others, or giving her all on the track, Noelle Lambert continues to make great strides in living life without limitations.

In the fall of 2019, Noelle made Team USA and set the American women’s record for 100m at the World Para Athletics Championship in Dubai.