Ella Connolly

BIOGRAPHY

At just 25, Ella Connolly is one of the best all-round sprinters Australia has had in two decades. Fourth in the 400m at the World U20 Championships in 2018, in recent years she has been concentrating on the short sprints and been a key member of the National 4x100m relay team that has broken the long-standing National record and booked a place at the Paris Olympics. Then in early 2025 she claimed her first senior global medal on the Australian 4x400m relay at the World Indoors.

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Growing up in Burpengary, located mid-way between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, Ella Connolly started competing in athletics aged 10. She enjoyed instant success, winning the 100m at the 2010 National Primary School competition. She would later join Deception Bay Little Athletics, where she would commit to serious training and fall in love with the sport.

From her mid-teenage years, Ella had drawn attention for her incredible speed, winning numerous national sprint trebles. Selected for the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games in the Bahamas, she won medals in the 200m and 400m – just days after her seventeenth birthday. In the 400m she clocked the extraordinary time of 52.72 – faster than Cathy Freeman at that age, these results earning her selection in the Australian senior team for the 2017 World Championships (4x400m relay). Her journey over the next few years has seen both ups and downs, unfortunately missing the 2018 Commonwealth Games in her home state of Queensland due to hamstring injury. Only to return later that year to achieve fourth in the 400m at the 2018 World U20 Championships.

Over the following years, injuries and COVID cancellations may have got in the way, but these did not stop glimpses of brilliance, with impressive times of 11.21 (windy) and 22.96 clocked in January 2021. Over the summer of 2021/22 Ella was in dazzling form, most notably recording two PB’s on one December day, 11.25 in the 100m and 52.28 for 400m. Over the remainder of summer she consistently ran quick in the short sprints and in her second 400m outing in March, again lowered her PB to 52.21. She ran four sub-11.30 100s and five sub-23.20 times, winning both National titles in April.

In her occasional 400m races, Ella clocked 52 seconds times in 2020, 2021 and 2022. For the 2022 World Championships Ella competed in the 200m heats then two weeks later at the Commonwealth Games she progressed her way through the 200m heat, semi to placed sixth in the final. It was the highest place by an Aussie in this event for 20 years. She then joined the 4x100m relay team running just the final and helped the team to fourth place. 11 months later, in July 2023, the Australian team were elevated to the bronze medal following the disqualification of the winners Nigeria for a doping violation.

In 2023 she was second in the National 200m championship and at the end of summer moved to Sydney coach Andrew Murphy. In August she was selected in the 200m and 4x100m relay for the Budapest World Championships, but unfortunately a hamstring injury in the leadup prevented her from taking her position in the team.

Her 2024 campaign was off to a great start breaking the National 60m record before closing the domestic season winning silver in the National 100m. Throughout the summer she held down the third leg on the Australian 4x100m relay and in March helped them to break the 24-year-old National record. In May at the World Relays, the team again lowered the record and secured a berth at the Paris Olympics for Australia. In June she claimed the Oceania 100m title in Suva Fiji.

When it mattered most on the big stage, Ella ran well in the 100m heats in Paris, to placed 6th, in a time of 11.29, just 0.04 seconds outside her lifetime best. She then joined the National relay team, running the first leg. Ella had run on the relay team that broke the Australian record two weeks prior to the Olympics when they clocked 43.48 seconds. In Paris the team placed 4th in their heat, missing the final by just 0.11 seconds.

In early 2025 Ella was in good form over the 60m, setting a quick PB of 7.16 and winning the inaugural Australian Short Track 60m title. Selected for the World Indoors she was 4th in her heat. She also ran second leg on the bronze medal winning 4x400m relay team – her first senior global medal.

Education: Studying Education at Griffith University…Occupation: casual teacher… Hobbies: Coffee, beach, farm or spending time with friends…Biggest Challenge: The transition from a junior to senior athlete and managing injuries throughout this period…Advice to your young self: Be patient and trust the process… Hometown– Burpengary, QLD

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