Ellie Pashley (born 10 December 1988) is an Australian

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

. She competed in the women's 10,000 metres event at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

. In June 2021, Pashley was selected as part of the Australian

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

team for the Tokyo Olympics. She came twenty-third in the event. Her time of 2:33.39 was just over 6 minutes more than the eventual winner,

Peres Jepchirchir Peres Jepchirchir (born 27 September 1993) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes mainly in road running competitions. She won the gold medal in the women's marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Jepchirchir was the champion ...

, of Kenya.

Early years

Even when very young, Pashley knew she would be an athlete. For her first 15 years, she was quite casual about it, but when she got into her twenties she took up athletics more seriously. Pashley rose into the Australian top-8 all-time in the 10,000 m, half marathon, and marathon events. In primary school, as the races got longer, Pashley performed better, but it wasn't until high school that she did more with cross country and Little Athletics.

Achievements

In 2015 Pashley prepared for a marathon under the coaching of

Julian Spence Julian Carroll Spence (May 5, 1929 – March 6, 1990) was an American football defensive back who played two seasons with the Houston Oilers of the American Football League (AFL). He played college football at Sam Houston State University and att ...

. She was running per week. In 2016, at the age of 27, she ran 2:46 in her first marathon in Melbourne. A year later Pashley ran the Berlin Marathon clocking 2:35.55. In March 2018, she represented Australia at the

World Half Marathon Championships The World Athletics Half Marathon Championships is a biennial international half marathon competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It ...

and was placed 24th with a personal best of 71:43. In September of the same year, she ran a marathon at 2:31.52. Pashley then came third at Zatopek with a personal best of 32:17.81. (Zatopek is named after the Czech distance running great Emil Zatopek and was first held in 1961. It is one of the most prestigious track races on Australian soil). In 2019, she ran a 2:26.21 marathon in Nagoya, making her eighth Australia all-time and therefore qualifying for the Olympics. In May 2019 she ran 31:43.51 for the 10000 m securing a 2019 World Championships qualifier. At the world championships in Doha in October, she was placed 13th – the second-highest ever by an Australian. Her time of 31:18.89 moved her to number four in Australian history.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pashley, Ellie 1988 births Living people Australian female long-distance runners Place of birth missing (living people) World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Australia 21st-century Australian women