Ellen Marie Falkner (née Alexander; born 12 June 1979) is an English international lawn and indoor bowler from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

, England. Falkner was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to lawn bowls.

Personal life

She retired from international bowls and relocated to Australia in 2021 after being appointed as Bowls Australia’s High Performance Manager for Para Bowls.

Bowls career

World Championships

In 2004, she won the gold medal in the fours with Jayne Christie, Jean Baker and

Amy Monkhouse Amy Pharaoh (born 20 March 1979 in Grimsby), also known as Amy Gowshall and Amy Monkhouse, is an English international lawn and indoor bowler. Personal life In August 2002, she married and became Amy Monkhouse. She has since reverted to her b ...

at the

2004 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2004 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Northfield Bowls Complex in Ayr, Scotland, from 23 July to 7 August 2004 and Victoria Park, Leamington Spa Victoria Park is a public park in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. I ...

. In 2016, she was part of the fours team with Rebecca Wigfield,

Wendy King Wendy Jean King is an English international bowls player. Bowls career Wendy King won a silver medal at the 2008 World Outdoor Bowls Championship pairs and competed in the 2012 World Outdoor Bowls Championship and 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Cham ...

and Jamie-Lea Winch who won the silver medal at the

2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Burnside Bowling Club in Avonhead Avonhead is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Christchurch. It has two primary schools, a shopping centre and several parks. Etymology Engineer W ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

. She then won a bronze medal in the

pairs Concentration, also known as Memory, Shinkei-suijaku (Japanese meaning "nervous breakdown"), Matching Pairs, Match Match, Match Up, Pelmanism, Pexeso or simply Pairs, is a card game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and tw ...

with

Sophie Tolchard Sophie Tolchard (born 2 October 1991) is an English international lawn bowler. Bowls career World Championships In 2016, she won a pairs bronze medal with Ellen Falkner at the 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Christchurch. Commonwealth ...

. In 2020 she was selected for the

2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was to be the 14th edition of the World Championships to be held at the Broadbeach Bowls Club, Musgrave Hill Bowls Club and Club Helensvale on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. There were to be ...

in Australia.

Commonwealth Games

Ellen represented England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games winning gold in the fours and eight years later won another gold at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

in the woman's pairs competition with

. Ellen also competed in the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

and won a further gold in the women's triples event with

and

Sian Gordon Sian Honnor (née Gordon, born 14 January 1988, in Canterbury) is an English international lawn bowler from Whitstable. Bowls career Outdoors She first represented England on the world stage when she competed in the Youth Commonwealth Games i ...

. She was selected as part of the England team for the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, ...

, on the Gold Coast in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

where she won a bronze medal in the

Triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo activities, as chos ...

with

Katherine Rednall Katherine Rednall (born 7 January 1996) is an English lawn and indoor bowler from Stowmarket. She is record five times women's world indoor singles champion. Bowls career Indoors Rednall became the youngest ever winner of a World Indoor Bowls ...

and

Sian Honnor Sian Honnor (née Gordon, born 14 January 1988, in Canterbury) is an English international lawn bowler from Whitstable. Bowls career Outdoors She first represented England on the world stage when she competed in the Youth Commonwealth Games in ...

World Indoor Championship

Falkner won a third World Indoor singles title during the

2016 World Indoor Bowls Championship The 2016 Just Retirement World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 08-24 January 2016. Nick Brett won the blue riband event (the Men's Singles) for the first time after beatin ...

after defeating

Rebecca Field Rebecca Field is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lacey Jean-Locklin in the Lifetime drama series '' The Client List''. She is also known for the role of Gail in the 2018 film '' A Star Is Born''. Life and career Field was ...

in the final. This success came ten years after her previous two victories. In 2019 she won the mixed pairs gold with

Robert Paxton Robert Owen Paxton (born June 15, 1932) is an American political scientist and historian specializing in Vichy France, fascism, and Europe during the World War II era. He is Mellon Professor Emeritus of Social Science in the Department of History ...

at the

2019 World Indoor Bowls Championship The 2019 Just World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 10–27 January 2019. The event is organised by the World Bowls Tour. Stewart Anderson won his second open singles ...

. At the

2021 World Indoor Bowls Championship The 2021 Just World Indoor Bowls Championship took place at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 8–24 January 2021. The event was organised by the World Bowls Tour, televised by the BBC and streamed live on YouT ...

Falkner became the first female player to reach the final of the open pairs event (playing with

Greg Harlow Greg Harlow (born 6 July 1968) is an English international indoor bowls player. Bowls career World Indoor Championships Born in Ely, Greg Harlow rose to the world ranking of number one indoors during 2006. Despite being world number one it was n ...

Atlantic Championships

In 2005 she won the triples and fours gold medals at the

Atlantic Bowls Championships The Atlantic Bowls Championships was a lawn bowling competition held between national bowls organisations in the Atlantic region. The event was a qualifying event for the World Outdoor Bowls Championships until the 2021 announcement that it wou ...

. After a singles bronze and pairs silver in 2009 she won the fours gold medal and triples silver medal at the 2011 Atlantic Championships in Cyprus. Four years later in 2015 she won the triples silver medal and fours bronze medal at the Championships, also in Cyprus.

National

After winning the 2011 National singles crown she subsequently won the singles at the

British Isles Bowls Championships The British Isles Bowls Championships is a tournament held between the champions of their respective nations, England Scotland, Wales, combined Ireland and more recently Guernsey and Jersey. It was first held in 1960 although the triples event did ...

in 2012. She also won the two wood title in 2011 and has won eleven National titles in total; two singles, three CofC, four

(2007, 2008, 2012, 2017 all with Sue Alexander), one

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo activities, as chos ...

(2007) and one junior title. National titles *2004 Bowls England National Championships (Women's Junior Pairs) *2007 Bowls England National Championships (Women's Pairs) *2007 Bowls England National Championships (Women's Triples) *2008 Bowls England National Championships (Women's Pairs) *2011

Bowls England National Championships (Women's Singles Four Wood) The women's singles four wood is one of the events at the annual Bowls England National Championships. The four-wood singles is the traditional variation of the game; see Glossary of bowls terms. Venues *1932–1933 (Blackheath & Greenwich Cl ...

*2011 Bowls England National Championships (Women's Singles Two Wood) *2012 Bowls England National Championships (Women's Pairs) *2017 Bowls England National Championships (Women's Pairs) *2017

Bowls England National Championships (Women's Champion of Champions) The women's champion of champions is one of the events at the annual Bowls England National Championships. History The event started in 1989, five years after the inuguration of the equivalent men's event, the Bowls England National Champions ...

*2019

*2021

References

External links