Morgan Mitchell (born 3 October 1994) 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 ...

who specialized in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

and now competes in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

Early life

Mitchell started athletics in 2000, inspired by the success of compatriot

Cathy Freeman Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman (born 16 February 1973) is an Aboriginal Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set ...

at the Sydney Olympics, but stopped at the age of 12 to concentrate on

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

. She represented Australia on junior level before returning to athletics in 2012. Mitchell's father is an African American former professional basketball player who moved from the United States to Australia, and her mother is Australian.

Career

Mitchell competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing without advancing to the final. She represented Australia in the Women's 400m and Women's 4 × 400 m Relay at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. Her personal best in the

is 51.25 seconds set in Birmingham in 2016. In 2019, Mitchell switched focus to the

, rapidly improving to her current personal best of 2:00.06. As part of her switch in event, Elizabeth Mathews became her coach and Mitchell began running 60–70 km a week rather than the 15 km per week she had done for sprinting previously. Mitchell competed in the

2020 Tokyo Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. She came sixth in her Women's 800m heat with a time of 2:05.44 and was therefore eliminated.

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Morgan 1994 births Living people Australian female sprinters Australian people of African-American descent World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia Athletes from Melbourne Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Australia FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Australia Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic female sprinters 21st-century Australian women 21st-century Australian people People from Carlton, Victoria Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Australian Athletics Championships winners