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

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, 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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(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 A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

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. She reached a career high ranking of world number 14 in September 2024. Personal life In August ...

at the 2004 World Outdoor Bowls Championship. In 2016, she was part of the fours team with Rebecca Wigfield, Wendy King 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, Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban a ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. She then won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the

pairs Concentration is a round game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up over each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards. Concentration can be played with any number ...

with Sophie Tolchard. In 2020 she was selected for the 2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Australia.

Commonwealth Games

Ellen represented England at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

winning gold in the fours and eight years later won another gold at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

in the woman's pairs competition with

. Ellen also competed in the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

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

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

. 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, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, on the Gold Coast in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

where she won a

in the

Triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

with Katherine Rednall and Sian Honnor.

World Indoor Championship

Falkner won a third World Indoor singles title during the 2016 World Indoor Bowls Championship 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 at the 2019 World Indoor Bowls Championship. At the 2021 World Indoor Bowls Championship Falkner became the first female player to reach the final of the open pairs event (playing with Greg Harlow).

Atlantic Championships

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

Atlantic Bowls Championships The Atlantic Bowls Championships was a bowls, lawn bowling competition held between national bowls organisations in the Atlantic region. The event was a qualifying event for the World Bowls Championship, World Outdoor Bowls Championships until ...

. 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, from England, Scotland, Wales, a combined Ireland, and more recently Guernsey and Jersey. It was first held in 1960 although the triple ...

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) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

(2007) and one junior title. In 2023, (Falkner now living in Australia and working as the Bowls Australia High Performance Manager for Para Bowls) won the

Australian National Bowls Championships The Australian National Bowls Championships and the Australian Open are competitions in Australia for bowls. They are organised by Bowls Australia. Bowls dates back to 1845 in Australia but it was not until 1910, during the 1910 Carnival of Bowl ...

fours title with Jamie-Lee Worsnop, Ellen Ryan and Karen Murphy. 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 C ...

*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 inauguration of the equivalent men's event, the Bowls England National Champio ...

*2019

*2021

*2023

Fours

References

External links