Bree Masters

Two and a half years into her return to athletics after a decade away from the sport, Bree Masters made her debut in the green and gold at the 2022 World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

In the interim, Bree had been pursuing her passions for dancing and beach sprinting. But back on the track, she was almost immediately successful.

At the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, she set a PB of 11.29 for the 100m – the fastest time by an Australian at a global meet for 15 years.

Two weeks later at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she made the 100m semi-final and ran the second leg on the 4x100m relay team, which placed fourth.

Eleven months later, the Australians were elevated to the bronze medal following the disqualification of the winners, Nigeria, for a doping violation.

Bree was a sporty kid who participated in gymnastics, soccer and netball and started Little Athletics at Sylvania Waters Athletics Track in southern Sydney at the age of six.

“My parents put me into numerous sports when I was a kid to stay active,” she said. “However out of all the sports I did, sprinting was one of my favourites.”

However, as a 12-year-old she decided to step away from the track and focus on beach sprinting. 
Over the next few years she won several titles, including Female Beach Sprint World Champion in 2016 and Open Female Australian Beach Sprint Champion in 2019.

But during these years, sport wasn’t actually Bree’s main focus.

“Something not many people know is that I was a full-time dancer growing up,” she said. “I started dancing at age six and fell in love with it. I was selected into a performing arts high school with dreams of becoming a full-time company dancer. Growing up, my focus was always on dancing. I had little time to train for surf lifesaving and athletics.”

After finishing school, Bree enrolled in a full-time dance course in Sydney and everything changed.

“I didn’t like it whatsoever,” she said. “I just lost my passion for dancing doing the course. It was a very strange time, I had been so keen on being a full-time dancer in a company and all of a sudden, I was like, ‘No, I want to move to Queensland and follow my running career’.”

Bree was 17 when she moved to Queensland’s Gold Coast.

“The Gold Coast is the hub of surf lifesaving and I moved to train with the sport’s best athletes,” she said. “I joined my current coach (Ryan Hoffman) and his team.”

For the next six years, beach sprinting was her focus, then in December 2019, aged 24, she was convinced to return to the track.

“Coming back into athletics was nerve-racking, however it was also super exciting as it was almost something new to me again,” Bree said.

“I really enjoyed my first race back and was super surprised with my 100m time (11.63). This race sparked new flames and a new passion, that had me setting new goals as a sprinter.”

Within a few months, she had recorded times of 11.55 for the 100m and 23.35 for the 200m.

Her progression continued in 2021 and in June she joined the national 4x100m relay team, who clocked an amazing 43.11. It was the second-fastest time by a women’s relay team Australian history, but they missed Tokyo Olympics qualification by 0.06 seconds.

Bree was back on the track in early 2022 with PBs in her very first outing – 11.36 and 23.25. She went on to compile an incredibly consistent summer of times, nailing a national silver medal in 100m and bronze medals in the Oceania 100m and 200m events.

Her consistent performances earned her selection for the world championships and the Commonwealth Games. 

After her impressive performance in Birmingham, she carried her form into 2023, winning 100m silver at the national championships and clocking a PB of 11.23 in the rain in Auckland. 

She suffered a hamstring strain in June of that year, but, astonishingly, one month later she opened her European campaign in Belgium with a 11.25 run – the second-fastest time of her career. 

Disaster struck at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest when the relay team dropped the baton, but they made up for it in March when they broke a 25-year-old Australian record, clocking 42.94 in Sydney. Two months later at the World Relays, they again broke the record with a time of 42.83, securing a place at the Paris Olympics.

Bree has become a mainstay of the Australian relay team. She has run on every Australian sub-44 relay team since 2021, except two B squads. In the history of Australian relay racing, she is the most prolific team member. 

Bree graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Communications (business) from Bond University and works part-time in public relations.

And she still gets a huge kick out of running fast.

“I love the thrill, adrenaline and excitement it brings me,” she said. “I love running fast, striving for new personal best times, and seeing new personal best times on the clock. I also love racing with my friends and teammates, as I love creating memories and achieving incredible things with them. Being out on the track is my happy place and it is where I feel like I belong.

“Running has become a huge part of my life and has taken me to places I never thought it could. It has taken me around the world, connected me with the most amazing people, and has allowed me to achieve so many things.”