Eloise Wellings (athletics) joined Kathryn Mitchell as the first Australian track and field athletes to attend five Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. It was Eloise’s 21st national team in a 24-year international career that also included two Olympic Games and three world championships. It was also her first Commonwealth Games as a marathon runner, scaling up from middle-distance track events at previous Games which included four consecutive top 10 finishes in the women’s 5000m.

Born in New York, Wellings has been a stalwart of Australian running since first competing at the World Junior Championships in 1998. She qualified for the Sydney 2000 Olympics as a 17-year-old, but an injury forced her withdrawal from the team. Making her international debut at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, Wellings finished fourth in the women’s 5000m, returning at the Delhi 2010 Games to finish fifth in the 5000m and sixth in the 10,000m. Four years later in Glasgow, Wellings enjoyed another strong showing in the 5000m finishing fifth. At the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Wellings finished eighth in the 5000m and 16th in the 10,000m.

Wellings competed in the 10,000m at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, finishing 21st and 10th respectively. After COVID-19 disruptions, she withdrew from qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics before turning her focus to the marathon. She ran an impressive 2:25:47 in Valencia in December 2023 to be among six Australian women who ran under the qualifying time for the Paris 2024 Olympics but ultimately missed selection.

Away from the track, Wellings co-founded a foundation called Love Mercy, a foundation to help communities in northern Uganda overcome poverty after decades of civil war.