16-year-old sprint prodigy Ellie Beer faced pressure

Topic:Athletics

Ellie Beer is a dual Olympian but the pressure of being in the spotlight almost ended her running career. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)

At age 16, 400 metre runner Ellie Beer was exceeding expectations.

She was the new kid on the block in Australian sprinting, smashing her personal best (PB) time and making history.

But maintaining that level of performance was all-consuming.

"It was just spotlight moment after spotlight moment," Beer tells ABC Sport.

"I remember feeling the pressure of what others were thinking.

"I felt like I had to rise to the occasion, like every race I had to run a PB and that it would be good enough."

It took another five agonising years for Beer to beat her 2019 PB of 52.53 seconds.

"There were moments where I was like, 'Will I ever get better?' I [felt] like maybe I peaked at 16," Beer says.

"I had thoughts of wanting to give up and not pursue it anymore."

Ellie Beer competed for five years without running a personal best. (Getty Images: Andy Cheung)

The transition from a junior to a senior athlete, from about 17 to 19 years of age, was particularly hard.

"I had set my standards so high that I had to run consecutive 52 second runs, but I wasn't getting close to that time due to the pressure," Beer says.

She started overthinking her races, predicting what would happen before they had even begun.

"I would be worrying about the lactic [acid] hitting the last hundred. 'How am I going to run down that back straight?'

"I went out and pretty much just ran stressed and nervous."

Ellie Beer started to overthink races and then tied her identity to her results. (ABC Sport: Glenn Mullane)

Beer credits her coach and support team with getting her on the start line during that time.

"The back of my head [was saying] 'I don't want to give up the sport,' but the front of my head was telling me, 'No, [I] want to be done.'"

"I knew in my heart that I didn't want to give up," she says.

But moving forward wasn't easy.

When passion turns to pain

Beer stands out. She's more than 1.8m tall, with long, bouncy blonde locks and an infectious smile.

You can't miss her on the track thanks to her trademark arm sleeves, which help her to get in the zone.

Ellie Beer says wearing arm sleeves helps her to get in the zone. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)

"My coach always says, 'Wear your arm sleeves, Ellie, because you feel fierce,'" she says.

"[They] make me feel like I'm ready to go out there and perform."

Now 23, Beer is a different person to the 16-year-old who stormed onto the world stage. But it's only because of where she's been.

Beer's big break came at the Queensland Track Classic in 2019 when she won the 400m in a PB of 52.53.

It earned her a spot in the Australian 4 x 400m relay team for the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships, and the title of the youngest-ever Australian selected.

A young Ellie Beer competes at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in 2019. (Getty Images: Christian Petersen)

She then ran a flying time, which helped Australia qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

Beer was selected for that 4x400m relay team for Tokyo, and at 18 her Olympic dream was realised.

Ellie Beer (right) realised her dream to compete at an Olympics in Tokyo. (Getty Images: Matthias Hangst)

After Tokyo, Beer won the 2022 national senior 400m title and placed seventh in the 400m final at the World Under 20 Championships. But still no breakthrough runs, no personal bests. That pressure to rise to every occasion was weighing heavily.

"I was just really worrying about trying to perform a perfect race, sometimes for others," Beer says.

Ellie Beer was constantly worrying about the race, before it even began. (Getty Images: Pedro Vilela)

"I used to be, after bad races, quite down on myself.

"And then [I] would kind of dwell into the rest of my season."

The power of pushing through

At 21 years old, already having graced the international stage for five years, Beer knew something had to change.

It was 2024, leading into the Paris Olympics, when her mindset switched thanks to a supportive team.

A mindset change in the year leading up to the Paris Olympics helped Ellie Beer make a breakthrough. (Getty Images: Christian Petersen)

She now has a wellbeing coach, a psychologist, and Brett Robinson, who has been her running coach since she was 11.

"He [Robinson] has helped me so much along the way," Beer says.

"Particularly during times when I didn't believe in myself, he would always believe in me more.

"I don't even want to call him a coach; I want to call him family."

What they did together seems so simple, but it worked.

"Nerves, they never go away, [but] I've changed my mindset around them," Beer says.

"I channel them and [have learned to] embrace them.

Ellie Beer now embraces the nerves and leans into them, rather than letting them consume her. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)

"It's a word that Robbo and I have used quite often.

"Embrace the hurt, [because] the 400 [is] a very tactical event, but learning to embrace that lactic acid, embrace where you are and being grateful to go out there and perform."

With that, Beer stopped worrying about the uncontrollable and she wasn't so driven by the outcome.

She also stopped tying her identity to her race results.

"I'm learning, yes, I'm Ellie Beer the athlete, but I'm also Ellie Beer the daughter, coffee enthusiast, social girl, the friend," she says.

"I've just learned that you [might have] one bad race, [and] yes, it sucks at the time, but it's just one race. We move forward and we focus on the next."

Mind over matter

That change has seen results.

2024 was a good year for Beer. She broke the personal best drought at the Adelaide Invitational, took the national 400m title, the Oceania 400m title, and then produced another PB at the Paris Olympics.

In 2025, she won her third national title and got her PB down to its current form of 51.3 seconds. She also won a bronze relay medal at the World Indoor Championships.

This year, she secured her fourth national title, was crowned Oceania Champion again, and recently helped the mixed and women's relay teams qualify for the 2027 World Athletics Championships.

Her biggest goal now is running the 400m in under 51 seconds.

"I've had that goal for the last couple of years and we just haven't quite got it yet," Beer says.

"We've got PBs which I'm happy with, but our standard for Australia to get into most major teams is to run a 50.7.

"To run a sub-50, oh my gosh, I'm going to be ecstatic.

"But I've learned [that with] running, even just a PB is amazing [and] I'll be happy with that."

Ellie Beer's goal now is to run the 400 metres in under 51 seconds. (Getty Images: Andy Cheung)

Beer stresses the nerves are still there and probably always will be.

When asked what her greatest challenge is in getting that sub-51 mark, her answer is not a surprise.

"Probably my own self," Beer says.

"I'm a different athlete compared to when I was a junior, [but I] still struggle with the self-doubt and the what if."

The Gold Coast local is now an ambassador for the Australian Institute of Sport's mental fitness program, and says she is happy to share her experiences of vulnerability to help other athletes.

"Having that experience of not running a PB for five years, that's the reason as to why at this age now I want to share better ways to deal with it," she says.

"As part of my training, I speak with my sports psychologist, I speak to my wellbeing officer, I speak with my coaches to help rewire my mindset leading into races.

"There's a major percentage physically, [but] mental plays a massive part as well."

It is possibly a contradiction, but mentally, Beer likes to switch off with coffee.

She just can't survive without her two iced long blacks a day, on top of an espresso shot with eggs on toast in the morning.

"I love coffee," Beer says.

"My favourite thing to do outside of training is search for the best cafes and try all of them."

The focus is just one part of rebuilding her identity outside of running.

In the long term, Beer has her sights set on being selected for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.