Matthew Ramsden (athletics) earned a call-up for his Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham in 2022 where he missed qualifying for the men’s 1500m final by a fraction of a second and finished 10th in the 5000m.

The South African-born athlete, who lived in New Zealand for a short time as a child, moved to Perth with his family when he was 9 and found his stride after joining the running club at Kolbe College. Preferring an early lift to school with his father plus a free breakfast – rather than catching the bus – Ramsden was soon logging over 1000km per term. Just after competing at the world junior championships in 2016, he met coach Nic Bideau and joined the Melbourne Track Club.

2019 was a breakthrough year for Matthew, finishing 39th at the world cross country championships, winning 1500m Oceania championships gold in Townsville, breaking Herb Elliott’s decades-old West Australian mile record and finishing 15th at his world championships debut in Doha.

Despite winning his maiden 5000m national title in March 2021 and recording a 3:34.08 PB in the 1500m which was under the Olympic qualifying time, Ramsden missed selection for Tokyo such was the abundance of Australian middle-distance talent. Determined as ever, the three-time 5000m national champion went on to compete at the Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023 world championships as well as the Belgrade 2022 world indoor championships.

Since 2023, Ramsden has balanced his talents as an elite middle-distance athlete and coach to some of the state’s best runners as well as completing his commerce/law studies at Deakin University.