At 39 years of age, Eloise Wellings finished fourth in the women’s marathon at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, her fifth appearance at these Games. The two-time Olympian becomes the first Australian track and field athlete to compete at five Commonwealth Games.
The NSWIS scholarship holder has a history of success on the track, making finals at the Olympics, world championships and Commonwealth Games, and has enjoyed the distance shift up to the marathon.
Eloise just missed out on medals at both the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games (4th; 5000m) and the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games (5th, 5000m; 6th, 10000m). She qualified for Australia to compete at the London 2012 Olympic Games where she finished 21st in the 10,000m final (32:25.43) and 15th in her 5000m heat (15:35.53).
At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Eloise reached the finals of the 10,000m where she remarkably shaved 25 seconds off her PB to place 10th – the best Olympic performance by Australian women in that event at the time. The then 33-year-old placed 9th in 5000m Olympic final, recording a 10-year best time of 15:01.59.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games will be her first Australian team appearance since the birth of her second child in 2019 and her first as a marathoner after scaling up from middle distance track events.