Amelia Rowe

BIOGRAPHY

Since Amelia Rowe started in athletics aged 8, there have been a lot of stops and starts in her athletics journey, but her performances over the last two years have been breathing taking. The 18-year-old has won a junior global medal, moved into the top-10 Australian juniors of all-time and made her senior Australian team debut.

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Born in the UK, Amelia moved to Australia age six. By age eight she was competing in Little Athletics after winning at her school athletics carnival. After a couple of years, she quit, as she was keen on playing hockey. She returned to Little Athletics for another two years, but when the age groups changed, the November born athlete felt ‘left out’ and quit again. “My dad thought I was too good at athletics to give it up, so he found a local coach and signed me up.”

She started training with the 100/200m program for two years, before asking her coach to try the 400m. “My first 400m was 65 seconds. By my third season, my PB was down to 61.”

Her coach encouraged her to run at the WA State All Schools, but Amelia didn’t think she was good enough. Her coach said, “You’ll come closer to first than last.” In the race she ran a three seconds PB (58.5) and qualified for the 2022 Australian All Schools Nationals in Adelaide, where she placed 6th. “I was disappointed and ended up choosing Surf Life Saving Nationals instead of track that season.” At the beach nationals she won the U17 Australian Beach Sprint title.

Having just turned 17-years-old, she started her 2023/24 season with some terrific PB times of 12.16 (100m), 24.54 (200m) and 56.46 (400m). By the end of summer, she had run PBs of 23.88 (200m) and a stunning 53.09 (400m). She won the Australian under-20 400m title and was selected for the 2024 World U20 Championships. At the championships in Peru, she progressed to the 400m semi-final and won a silver medal with the 4x400m relay team.

Amelia’s progression in the 2025 season continued, as the 18-year-old reduced her PB on three occasions, now down to 52.49 when she placed third in the Open Australian 400m championship. She was now the nineth fastest U20 Australian all-time, one place ahead of Ellie Beer. She was selected for her senior Australian team debut to compete at the World Relays where she ran in the heats for the women’s 4x400m relay which qualified for the Tokyo world championships.

Hero: “My parents absolutely, they’ve worked so hard to build us such an amazing life in Australia, moving across the world to give me and my little brother all the opportunities we have today. They’re the most amazing hardworking people and I’m so grateful for their constant support and love and the way they’ve always encouraged me and given me the means to chase my dreams and make the most of it every opportunity…Most influential person in career: “Definitely my coach, Brian Pozzi. His love for the sport and commitment to helping me has just inspired me to be the best I possibly can. He’s spent countless hours supporting me through every up and down, stayed up all night to watch my international races, listened to all my problems big and small, and particularly believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”…Advice to your young self: “You’re young and you have time. Trust the process, enjoy it, and stay close to people who support you and make you happy.”…Hobbies: reading, cooking and baking, hikes and walks with her dogs…Sporting ambition: Olympics. “But more than that, I want to see how far I can take this and make the most of every opportunity in my career and have no regrets at the end of it and just be the best I possibly can be.”…Occupation:
Works at Perth Cryo – a recovery centre. “I work in the best environment with the most amazing girls, my boss is so understanding and supportive, letting me use all the facilities and letting me take time to travel to different comps.”…Other Sports: Surf Life Saving – U17 Australian Beach Sprint Champion in 2023 and 2024, Flags Champion in 2024, and has relay medals across U17, U19 and Open divisions….Interesting facts: born with hip dysplasia (a condition where the hip joint doesn’t develop properly, causing instability or dislocation). It was diagnosed after her aunty noticed something was off when she was 13 months old. She had surgery soon after and if it had gone unnoticed Amelia believes she would definitely not be running…Hometown: Sunderland in the UK. Although she only lived there for six years. Amelia has the coordinates tattooed on her back. Now she lives in Perth. Her mother has Polish heritage…Biggest challenge faced: “The mental side of high performance, I think sometimes I can be my own worst enemy and that’s something I’m constantly working on.”

@ 3 Sept 25 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au