Ellie Beer

Athletics and sprinting have been a feature of Ellie Beer’s family and therefore it was no surprise she has followed the family business. When Beer was aged six she started Gold Coast Little Athletics and Nippers at Currumbin Surf Club and has gone undefeated in state and national beach sprints in her age group. By the age of 14, in 2017, she had already clocked 54.83 in the 400m and on the beach won the Australian under-14 flags and beach sprint titles.

With the Commonwealth Games set for her home city of the Gold Coast, she took a shot at selection. The just 15-year-old lined up in the Australian Championships/CG Trials in mid-February with a special support crew.

“My friends came to watch and one of my friend’s dad made up hats with ‘Only here for the BEER’ printed on them. It was pretty funny and they were pretty loud,” said Beer. She placed seventh in the final in a PB 54.44.

The next month she won the national U16 200/400m double and in December the national U16 200/400m double, closing the year with PBs of 23.94/53.55. In the 2019 summer she won the Australian U17 200/400m double, but her major achievement was winning the Brisbane Track Classic 400m in a 0.9 seconds PB time of 52.53 to become the fourth fastest U18 in Australian history.

She was selected in the Australian Team for the 2019 World Relays where they placed fifth in the final. Her selection in the Australian Team for the 2019 World Championships aged 16 years and 268 days, made her the youngest ever Australian selected for the championships. Running a flying time of 52.0 seconds, Beer helped the Australian Team to 3:28.64 and qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

Domestically in 2021, at 18, Ellie was consistently the second best in Australia behind world championships semi-finalist Bendere Oboya. She was selected for her Olympic debut competing in the 4x400m relay. At the Tokyo Games, Ellie split 51.85 on the third leg, helping the team to seventh place.

Post Tokyo, Ellie had a strong couple of years in 2022 and 2023. In 2022 she won the National senior title and placed seventh in the final of the 400m at the World U20 Championships.

Ellie’s 2024 campaign has been perfect as she makes terrific progress. Now aged 21, she started with a PB, breaking her, now five-year-old PB from 2019, clocking 52.25. She would go on to clock four consecutive PBs, including taking the National title in 51.59. She also ran the second leg on the National 4x400m relay.

After initially qualifying for the World Relay Championships during the domestic season, in May in the Bahamas, the National Team came within one second of qualifying for the Paris Olympics clocking their fastest time for six years. Ellie ran two sub-51 seconds relay splits for the Team.