Angeline's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Athletics
Event: 4x400m relay
Olympic History: Olympic debutant
Highlights: Bronze in the 4x400m at the 12th IAAF World Junior Championships
Club: South Canberra Tuggeranong Athletics Club
Year Born: 1989
State Born: VIC
About Angeline
Angie Blackburn was an outstanding junior athlete. In a rare achievement she competed twice at the World Junior (U20) Championships, first aged 16, then aged 18. At her first world juniors, in 2006, she qualified for the 400m semi-finals, then two years later made the 400m final and placed sixth.
In the 2006 semi-final she clocked the outstanding time of 52.90 and she remains a top-15 Australian junior of all-time. She went on to help the 4x400m relay to a bronze medal, running her fifth 400m at the championships.
Just after she competed at the world juniors in 2006, she made her senior international debut representing Oceania at the World Cup. She helped the 4x400m relay team to eighth place.
At the Australian junior championships, she won three national titles, in 2005, 2007 and 2008.
After competing for another summer 2008/09, Blackburn took a long break from the sport. She re-emerged in 2016 and within two years was back to her best where she placed fifth at the 2018 Australian Championships/Commonwealth Games trials. Her time of 52.91 was 0.01 seconds outside her PB and she missed the Australian team by 0.12 seconds.
Progression continued in 2019 and after breaking her 100m and 200m PB, she finally lowered her now 11-year-old 400m PB by running a 52.73 and placing third at the national championship. She travelled with the Australian team to Japan in May running in the 4x400m before making her senior Australian debut in a new Olympic event, the mixed 4x400m relay at the World Athletics Relays in Yokohama.
Angie Blackburn is a Monero Ngarigo and Yuin women, originally from Cann River (population less than 200) in South-East Gippsland in Victoria. She attended primary school in Cann River before going to high school in Canberra. She started in athletics at the Orbost Little Athletics centre in South-East Gippsland.
Blackburn has worked on international environmental policy at the Department of Environment and Energy. She has also been a mentor with Athletics Australia’s indigenous Raise the Bar Academy.
Angie will make her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, competing in the 4x400m relay.
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