Elinor Purrier St. Pierre (born February 20, 1995), better known as Elle Purrier St. Pierre, is an American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who specializes in middle-distance and

long-distance running Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running come two di ...

. She won a gold medal in the

3000 meters The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m shou ...

at the

2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships The 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships was the 19th edition of the international indoor track and field competition, organised by the World Athletics. The event was held between 1–3 March at the Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velod ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. Purrier is a two-time Olympian for the United States, making the final in the 1500m at both the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Olympic Games.

Early life and youth sports

Purrier was raised in Montgomery Center, Vermont, a small town near the

Canadian border The borders of Canada include: * To the south and west: An international boundary with the United States, forming the Canada–United States border, longest shared border in the world, ; (Informally referred as the 49th parallel north which make ...

. She lived on a dairy farm, where she woke up at 5 a.m. each day before school to milk cows and perform other chores, such as throwing hay bales and caring for pigs. At Richford High School, Purrier took up running alongside basketball. She competed at a high level in track and cross country, with first-place finishes at the New England Cross Country Championships and Northeast Regional championships for the

Nike Cross Nationals Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) (formerly known as Nike Team Nationals) is an invitational cross country meet that serves as the unofficial team national championship of United States high school cross country. Sponsored by Nike, It was designed to he ...

. She was named Vermont Gatorade Cross Country Athlete of the Year three times, receiving the honor in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Purrier was inducted into the hall of fame of the Vermont Principals' Association in 2022.

College competition

Purrier competed for the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

from 2013 to 2018, where she was NCAA champion and an 11-time All-American. As a freshman, she ran 4:36 in the mile. By her sophomore year, she improved her time to 4:29.71, setting a school record and achieving one of the top ten fastest times by a collegiate athlete. Her fast time in the mile marked her as a favorite to win the event at the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships. At those championships, she finished third after leading for much of the race but was overtaken in the final stretch. Later that year, Purrier improved one place to take second in the mile at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Following several podium finishes at previous NCAA championships, Purrier won a title in the mile at the 2018 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, finishing in 4:31.76. She led for most of the race and finished just ahead of

Dani Jones Danielle "Dani" Jones (born August 21, 1996) is an American middle-distance runner. She is a four-time NCAA Division I champion winning two gold medals at the 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in the 3000-meters and Indo ...

and Niki Hiltz, with less than a second difference between them. Purrier also competed at a high level in the steeple while at the

. In 2014, she won a national title in the 3000 meter steeplechase, and went on to place ninth in the final of the event at the

2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1995 or later) which was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA, on 22–27 July 2014. A total of 44 a ...

. Later in her collegiate career, she finished third in the steeplechase at the 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships. In 2016, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Purrier its Northeast Region Track Athlete of the Year. Purrier majored in nutrition, graduating in 2018.

Professional career

Purrier signed with

New Balance New Balance Athletics, Inc. (NB), doing business as New Balance, is one of the world's major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the multinational corporation was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch Su ...

in July 2018.

2019

At the 2019 USA Indoor Championships, Purrier finished sixth in the mile and won the bronze medal in the two miles. At the 2019 USA Outdoor Championships, she won the bronze medal in the 5000 m."Elle St. Pierre"
usatf.org. Retrieved November 10, 2023. She competed at the 2019 World Championships in October and finished 11th in the

5000 m The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

2020

At the 2020

Millrose Games The Millrose Games are an annual indoor athletics (track & field) meet held each February in New York City. Among the world's most prestigious indoor track meets, the games started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after ...

on February 8, Purrier broke the American record for the indoor mile with a time of 4:16.85. At the 2020 USA Indoor Championships, she finished fourth in the 5000 m.

2021

On February 13, 2021, Purrier broke the American indoor two mile record with a time of 9:10.28. At the 2020 USA Olympic Trials, she won the gold medal in the 1500 m with a time of 3:58.03, setting a personal best and breaking the meet record. She competed at the

2020 Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in August 2021. She finished 10th in the

1500 m The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometer ...

2022

At the 2022 USA Indoor Championships, Purrier won the bronze medal in the 1500 m and the gold medal in the 3000 m. She competed at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in March and won the silver medal in the

3000 m The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m shou ...

. While pregnant, Purrier competed at the 2022 USA Outdoor Championships and won the bronze medal in the 1500 m.Gregory, Sean
"An Olympic Runner Is Asking You—On Her Due Date—To Stop Judging Pregnant Women"
time.com. March 3, 2023. Retrieved November 10, 2023. She competed at the 2022 World Championships in July and did not advance to the final of the

2024

In February 2024, Purrier broke her own American record at the Wanamaker Mile race at the

in New York City, running 4:16.41. In her first major international competition since giving birth to her first child, she won gold in the 3000 meters at the

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. Her race set the American record for the 3000m.

Personal life

Purrier is a dairy farmer from Vermont. She married her longtime boyfriend Jamie St. Pierre in 2020 and gave birth to their son in March 2023. Their second son was born in May 2025.

Championship results

National

International

Personal bests

All sourced from

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

, as of February 11, 2024.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Purrier St. Pierre, Elle 1995 births Living people American female long-distance runners American female middle-distance runners Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners New Hampshire Wildcats women's track and field athletes Track and field athletes from Vermont People from Franklin County, Vermont 21st-century American sportswomen NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners