Ella Connolly (born 13 July 2000) is an Australian sprinter.
Early life Connolly was born in Rockhampton, Queensland and moved to the Moreton Bay region at a young age where she attended St Eugene College and St Columban's College throughout her upbringing. She began competing in athletics events at the age of 10 when she signed up to participate in the Queensland Little Athletics program in Deception Bay. In 2021, she moved to the Gold Coast to begin training under 1996 Olympian Mark Ladbrook at Griffith University's Gold Coast campus. Connolly briefly relocated to Sydney in 2023 to train under Andrew Murphy before returning to her home state in 2025 to train under coach Andrew Iselin at the Queensland Academy of Sport. She is currently in a relationship with professional AFL player Nick Blakey.
Athletics career She competed in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships, with the latter Australian team and this Connolly winning the silver medal.
Connolly was the national 100 m and 200 m champion in 2022 and part of the Australian 4 × 100 m relay team which set a championship record in winning the 2022 Oceania Athletics Championships. She made her individual debut at the World Athletics Championships in 2022 in the 200 metres. A couple of weeks later, Connolly was part of the Australian sprint relay team which finished third in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Connolly was a member of the relay teams that broke the Australian 4 × 100 m record three times in 2024: first in March at the Sydney Track Classic; then in May in the heats of the World Relay Championships in the Thomas Robinson Stadium, Nassau, Bahamas; and then in July at the London Diamond Leagues Athletics Meet where they ran 42.48 seconds.
She was Oceania 100 m champion in 2024 and competed in the individual 100 metres and the 4 × 100 m relay races at the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris.
Personal bests Event Time (s) Wind (m/s) Location Date Notes 60 metres 7.16 +1.3 Sydney, Australia 1 February 2025 100 metres 11.21wi +2.1 Brisbane, Australia 23 January 2021 11.25= +0.1 Brisbane, Australia 4 December 2021 11.25= -0.5 Brisbane, Australia 5 March 2022 200 metres 22.95 +0.6 Brisbane, Australia 6 March 2022 400 metres 52.21 n/a Sydney, Australia 12 March 2022 4 × 100 metres 42.48 n/a London, England 20 July 2024 AR
References
External links Ella Connolly at Australian Athletics Ella Connolly at Australian Athletics Historical Results