Annabelle Colman

BIOGRAPHY

Melbourne teenager Annabelle Colman, a T20 classification endurance athlete, made her Australian debut in Paris at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. She would return a year later to compete at the Paralympics where she would achieve a breakthrough performance by slicing nine seconds from her PB, break the Australian record and just missed the podium.

Born in Switzerland and attending primary school in the UK, Annabelle’s journey in athletics started overseas when she was aged seven and ran the kids event at the Ljubljana marathon where my Dad was running.

Her running became more serious while in high school in Melbourne, when aged 15, she ran the school cross country. She then joined Inclusive Sports Training with Liz Gosper. and then the Old Xaverians Athletics Club with Anthony de Castella. She still enjoys cross country, but the 1500m on the track has become the focus for Annabelle.

Her performances mid-COVID during the 2020/21 season were starting to impress with times of 2:36 (800m) and 5:14 (1500m). This including winning a treble at Nationals – the 400m, 800m and 1500m.

After a delayed start to the 2021/22 season, again due to COVID shutdowns, she ran a string of sub-5:05 1500m times, just missing a sub-5 at Nationals when she clocked 5:00.31. Over the half-mile she was now down to 2:32.

The season was a perfect springboard into 2022/23, when in her first major race, she went sub-5, clocking 4:59.00 in October. The next month, in her international debut at the Oceania Global Games she ran 4:51.19 to take gold. Then in February 2023, she broke through the 4:50 barrier and set a National record of 4:49.30. She was again under 4:50 at Nationals in April where she won the Open Ambulant 1500m title in 4:49.56. She was also progressing in the 800m, down to 2:25.72 in the Victorian Championships and won the National title with a 2:26 run.

The Australian under-20 800m and 1500m record holder, she has the National open 1500m record of 4:45.65 in her sights.

Then in June she was named in the Australian team for the World Para Athletics Championships held in Paris where she placed 8th in an excellent time of 4:52.88 in the very warm conditions.

Over the 2024 Australian domestic season Annabelle make tremendous progress, slashing her PB by nearly 10 seconds, now down to 4:40.98 minutes. She was rewarded with Paralympic Games selection where the progress would be outstanding. She really mixed it with the world’s best in the final of the T20 1500m race, where she would achieve a breakthrough performance by slicing nine seconds from her PB, break the Australian record and just missed the podium by two seconds. She clocked 4:31.52 to destroy her own national record.

“That’s a pretty good time – first ever for me under 4:40. I had jam and toast for breakfast with a banana, maybe that’s the secret,” the 20-year-old said.

“My coaches just told me to relax, not to worry too much about placings or stuff like that, and just finish the last 150m strongly. I concentrated on running, staying with the pack and wasn’t focussed on medals. This makes me want to go event faster and get even better.”

Chasing selection for the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships, Annabelle achieved a qualifier almost every time she raced over the 2025 domestic season, accumulating 10 qualifiers and a seasons best time of 4:42.23. In July she was named in the Australian team for India.

Memorable sporting achievement: Being selected on the Australian Paralympic Team and running a 9 second PB

… Heroes: Cathy Freeman, Jess Hull and Abbey Caldwell…Most influential person: first coach Liz Gosper who got me involved in IST and running regularly…Hobbies: sport, music and drawing…Education: child care studies

@ 21 July 2025 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au