At just 18-years-old, Ellie Beer already has solid experience behind her on the track. She competed in the women’s 4 x 400m relay at the 2019 World Championships and she has her eyes firmly set on competing at both the World U20 Championships in Kenya and the Tokyo Olympics this July.
With a strong pre-season behind her and a season opener of 53.41 already in the books, Beer is ready to take her next steps towards her goals. First up is taking on heavyweights the women’s 400m this weekend at the ACT State Championships.
Third in the seeding times at 52.70, Beer sits over a whole second behind 400m national champion Bendere Oboya. She’s also less than 10th of a second behind second seed Anneliese Rubie-Renshaw, and ahead of the experienced Lauren Boden, but that’s not stopping her from bringing out her inner competitor.
“Canberra has always been the best track to race on but what makes this so exciting is that I’m not only taking on Australia’s best 400m athletes, I’m taking on the world’s best,” she said.
“I’m not nervous about it because I relish these opportunities to compete with the Opens, but I always say the word ‘wow’ and this is 10,000 times wow.”
Aiming for a spot on the dais, Beer knows she’s going to have to push hard but is feeling confident after running her best season opener of 53.41 two weeks ago in Queensland.
“I’ve started off the year strong. I did my best opener in a while, and got that World Juniors Qualifier already, which is giving me confidence heading into Canberra,” she said.
“I’ve also had a really great pre-season. My coach Brett Robinson and my physio Josh Carter have been a great support system, and I’ll be feeling extra confident since I’ll be travelling together with some of my teammates.
“I’ll be out there focusing on my race, but with a big smile on my face because there’s nothing better than racing with some of those girls.”
While Beer is focusing on one race at a time, she’s looking forward to each amounting to her achieving her goal of representing Australia again this year.
“I have two main goals this year, which is definitely World Juniors, and aiming for a spot on the 4 x 400m relay team at the Olympics,” she said.
“I’m not aiming for an individual spot at the Olympics but I’d love to be part of that relay team. Ever since I went to the 2019 World Championships, I’ve loved travelling with the Australian Team and I’ve also been able to take so many of those learnings into my every day training and competition.”
Of those learnings, she said becoming independent and accepting help and support have helped her shape up for this season.
“Worlds was honestly amazing. I learnt so much about how to be an athlete – from going away, leaning on physio support, and the benefits of a psychologist, and even rooming with Caitlin Sargent-Jones opened my eyes about what it takes to be a successful athlete.
“Since then I’ve been working with the QAS who have been a major help. Coming into this season I’ve taken advice from nutrition, stretching, sleep, psychology – everything and I’m ready to enjoy it and go after it.”
Beer will compete in the 400m tomorrow from 5.15pm AEDT.
Posted: 12/1/2021
