Elle St. Pierre
Birthday: 02/20/95 Mile PR: 4:16.2 (road) - 2019
Metric Mile (1500m) PR: 3:55.99 - 2024
High School: Richford HS '13
Hometown: Montgomery, VT
College: University of New Hampshire '18
Current Residence: Berkshire, VT
Team: Team New Balance Boston
Elinor "Elle" St. Pierre (née Purrier) won the 2024 Wanamaker Mile and broke her U.S. record and track personal record, clocking 4:16.41. The following week, she won the USA 3000m indoor title in 8:54.40, earning a Team USA berth for the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, where she captured the 3000m gold medal in 8:20.87, setting meet and absolute U.S. records; also the first indoor 3000m world title by an American woman!
At the 2024 LA Grand Prix, the super mom won the 5000 meters, clocking 14:34.12, a personal record, Olympic standard and #5 U.S. woman all time! At the Pre Classic 1500m, she finished third in 3:56.00, a PR and #2 U.S. woman all-time.
In June, at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, she won the 5000m, setting a Trials record in 14:40.34 and earning a Team USA berth to the Paris Olympics, and later, took third in the 1500m, clocking 3:55.99, a PR and #4 U.S, all-time. In Paris, she placed 8th in the 1500 (3:57.52).
In 2022, Elle won the Wanamaker Mile to defend her crown, running 4:19.30, also the fastest Mile in the month of January ever by a woman, and in February, she won the USA Indoor 3000m title in 8:41.53. In March at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, she won the silver medal in the 3000 meters, clocking 8:42.04, for her first global medal.
On April 15, 2022 in Boston, she anchored the Distance Medley Relay team (1200, 400, 800, 1600 = 4:23.60) that shattered the indoor and absolute world record, clocking 10:33.85; previous WR 10:39.91.
At the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials 1500 meters, Elle led wire-to-wire on a warm evening at Hayward Field for the win, setting personal and meet records of 3:58.03. She also qualified for her first Olympic team, and in Tokyo, she finished 10th in the 1500m (4:01.75).
At the 2021 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Purrier St. Pierre set the absolute American 2 Mile record, clocking 9:10.28 to shatter Jenny Simpson's 9:16.78 from 2018 (outdoors) and to become the third fastest woman all-time for the distance. In May, she won the 1500m at the USATF Golden Games at Mt. SAC, setting a personal record of 3:58.36, #6 American woman all-time.
In 2020, Elle won the NYRR Wanamaker Mile, shattering the meet & American records with her 4:16.85 clocking (also #2 all-time woman indoors) as well as breaking her track Mile personal record by nearly 8 seconds! On August 11, she recorded an outdoor 1500m PR of 4:00.77.
In 2019, the rising U.S. star finished third in the USA 5000m Championship to qualify for her first Team USA berth at the World Championships in Doha, and in September at the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile, she was just nipped by winner Jenny Simpson, clocking a personal best 4:16.2. In February, Elinor also set her then track Mile PR of 4:24.88 at the New Balance Indoor GP in Boston.
In 2018, Purrier won the NCAA Indoor Mile, edging Colorado’s Dani Jones, 4:31.76 to 4:31.82. In February in Boston, she also recorded the fastest indoor Mile in the world for the year, clocking 4:26.55, #2 all-time in NCAA history (only Jenny Simpson is faster).
After graduating from the University of New Hampshire and turning pro, at the 2018 USA Outdoor Championships in late June, she finished sixth in the 1500 meters, running 4:09.30.
At the University of New Hampshire, Purrier was an 11-time All-American and studied nutrition.
FUN FACT: Elinor grew up on her family's Vermont dairy farm, milking 30 cows each morning at 5:30, before going to school.
FUN FACT II: On September 7, 2020, Elle married her high school sweetheart Jamie St. Pierre, a dairy farmer, and on March 4, 2023, they welcomed a baby boy, Ivan Charlie St. Pierre.
Photo credit: Kevin Morris