Ellie Pashley (born 10 December 1988) is an Australian

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

. 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 sport of athletics, athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athleti ...

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

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), 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 ...

team for the

Tokyo Olympics Tokyo Olympics may refer to: * 1940 Summer Olympics, Games of the XII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1964 Summer Olympics, Games of the XVIII Olympiad * 2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an ...

. 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 a ...

, of

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

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 Little Athletics is an Australian activity program that involves modified athletics events for children aged 3 to 16 in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory); 3 ...

Achievements

In 2015 Pashley prepared for a marathon under the coaching of Julian Spence. She was running per week. In 2016, at the age of 27, she ran 2:46 in her first marathon in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. A year later Pashley ran the

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , including elite level road r ...

clocking 2:35.55. In March 2018, she represented Australia at the

World Half Marathon Championships The World Athletics Road Running Championships is a biennial international road running competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It wa ...

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 is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

, 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 Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

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 sportswomen