Elle Purrier St. Pierre

Elinor Purrier St. Pierre (born February 20, 1995), better known as Elle Purrier St. Pierre, is an American track and field athlete who specializes in middle-distance and long-distance running. She won a gold medal in the 3000 meters at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow. Purrier is a two-time Olympian for the United States, making the final in the 1500m at both the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games.

Early life and youth sports Purrier was raised in Montgomery Center, Vermont, a small town near the Canadian border. She lived on a dairy farm, where she woke up at 5 a.m. each day before school to milk cows and perform other chores, such as throwing hay bales and caring for pigs. At Richford High School, Purrier took up running alongside basketball. She competed at a high level in track and cross country, with first-place finishes at the New England Cross Country Championships and Northeast Regional championships for the Nike Cross Nationals. She was named Vermont Gatorade Cross Country Athlete of the Year three times, receiving the honor in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Purrier was inducted into the hall of fame of the Vermont Principals' Association in 2022. As a freshman, she ran 4:36 in the mile. By her sophomore year, she improved her time to 4:29.71, setting a school record and achieving one of the top ten fastest times by a collegiate athlete. Her fast time in the mile marked her as a favorite to win the event at the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships. Later that year, Purrier improved one place to take second in the mile at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Following several podium finishes at previous NCAA championships, Purrier won a title in the mile at the 2018 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, finishing in 4:31.76. She led for most of the race and finished just ahead of Dani Jones and Niki Hiltz, with less than a second difference between them.

Purrier also competed at a high level in the steeple while at the University of New Hampshire. In 2014, she won a national title in the 3000 meter steeplechase, and went on to place ninth in the final of the event at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics. Later in her collegiate career, she finished third in the steeplechase at the 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships. In 2016, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Purrier its Northeast Region Track Athlete of the Year.

Purrier majored in nutrition, graduating in 2018.

Professional career Purrier signed with New Balance in July 2018.

2019 At the 2019 USA Indoor Championships, Purrier finished sixth in the mile and won the bronze medal in the two miles. At the 2019 USA Outdoor Championships, she won the bronze medal in the 5000 m. She competed at the 2019 World Championships in October and finished 11th in the 5000 m.

2020 At the 2020 Millrose Games on February 8, Purrier broke the American record for the indoor mile with a time of 4:16.85. At the 2020 USA Indoor Championships, she finished fourth in the 5000 m. At the 2020 USA Olympic Trials, she won the gold medal in the 1500 m with a time of 3:58.03, setting a personal best and breaking the meet record. She competed at the 2020 Olympic Games in August 2021. She finished 10th in the 1500 m.

While pregnant, Purrier competed at the 2022 USA Outdoor Championships and won the bronze medal in the 1500 m. She competed at the 2022 World Championships in July and did not advance to the final of the 1500 m.

2024 In February 2024, Purrier broke her own American record at the Wanamaker Mile race at the Millrose Games in New York City, running 4:16.41. In her first major international competition since giving birth to her first child, she won gold in the 3000 meters at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Her race set the American record for the 3000m.

Personal life Purrier is a dairy farmer from Vermont.

The St. Pierre family runs the Pleasant Valley Farm in Berkshire, Vermont. In April 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents raided the farm and detained eight undocumented migrant farmworkers. It has been called the "largest immigration enforcement action in recent Vermont history" and was described as an "injustice" by members of the Migrant Justice Farmworker Coordinating Committee.

Championship results National

International

Personal bests All sourced from World Athletics, as of February 11, 2024.