Sarah Billings (born 7 March 1998) is a track and field athlete from Australia. She is a former national champion over

1500 metres 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 kilomet ...

Early life

She attended

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

. Billings grew up in the

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 ...

suburb of

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

and attended Ruyton Girls School.

Career

Billings competed at the

2016 IAAF World U20 Championships The 2016 World U20 Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 1997) which was held at Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium in Bydgoszcz, Poland on 19–24 J ...

in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, 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 a ...

and

4 x 400m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

. The following year, she won the national U20 title over 800 metres. She won the Australian national

title in

in December 2019. However, a string of injuries limited her to just four races over the two-year period of 2020–2021. She was a pacemaker at the Diamond League event in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

in 2022. In November 2022, she won the Victorian 5000m Championships at

Box Hill, Victoria Box Hill is an Eastern suburbs (Melbourne), eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of the city's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District (CBD), located within the City of Whitehorse Local governm ...

. In February 2023, she ran a personal best of 4:32.30 for the mile to finish second at the Cooks Classic Mile in

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

. In June 2023, she acted as a pacemaker for

Beatrice Chebet Beatrice Chebet (born 5 March 2000) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who is the current world record holder in both the women's only and mixed 5 kilometre run, in addition to the 10,000 metres. She won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics ...

to break a 24-year old meet record at the

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

event in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. She ran a personal best of 4:38.97 for the road Mile at the 2023 World Athletics Road Running Championships in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. In April 2024, she finished fourth in the woman's 1500m at the Australian Athletics Championships. The following week she set a new personal best of 3:59.59 for the distance, inside the Olympic qualifying time for the 2024 Games in Paris, at the

2024 Xiamen Diamond League The 2024 Xiamen Diamond League was an outdoor track and field meeting in Xiamen, China. Held on 20 April at Xiamen Egret Stadium, it was the opening leg of the 2024 Diamond League – the highest level international track and field circuit. Hig ...

. She won the 1500m at the World Continental Tour Gold event in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

on 19 May 2024. She was selected for the 800 metres at the

2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships The 20th World Athletics Indoor Championships were held from 21 to 23 March 2025 in Nanjing, People's Republic of China, at the newly built Nanjing's Cube gymnasium in the Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park. Nanjing was originally due to host the ...

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

in March 2025. She finished second at the Australian Athletics Championships over 1500 metres in 4:11.51 on 12 April 2025. She ran a personal best 2:33.45 for the 1000 metres at the

2025 Xiamen Diamond League The 2025 Xiamen Diamond League was an outdoor track and field meeting in Xiamen, China. Held on 26 April at Xiamen Egret Stadium, it was the opening leg of the 2025 Diamond League – the highest level international track and field circuit. Di ...

event in China, in April 2025. Competing at the

2025 Shanghai Diamond League The 2025 Shanghai Diamond League was an outdoor track and field meeting in Shaoxing Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. Located on the south bank of the Qianta ...

, she ran a personal best 1:57.83 to place second in the women's 800m race. On 6 June 2025, she finished second over 1500 metres at the

2025 Golden Gala The 2025 Golden Gala was the 44th edition of the annual outdoor track and field meeting in Italy. Held on 6 June at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, it was the fifth leg of the 2025 Diamond League – the highest level international track and field c ...

in Rome, part of the

2025 Diamond League The 2025 Diamond League is the sixteenth season of the annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by World Athletics. The competition is a revision to the top level athletics series since Diamond League foundation in 2010. Th ...

, running 3:59.24.

Personal life

Her brother

Jack Billings Jack Billings (born 18 August 1995) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), having initially been drafted to the St Kilda Football Club. Billings played TAC Cup with O ...

is an

Australian Rules Football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

player.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billings, Sarah 1998 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportswomen Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Australian female middle-distance runners University of Melbourne alumni People educated at Ruyton Girls' School People from the City of Boroondara