Rising NZ athletics star Rosie Elliott has eyes set on Paris Olympics

Rosie Elliott runs at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon. Photo / Photosport

When top Kiwi runner Rosie Elliott is standing on the start line, she admits her mind goes to a “feral place”.

Elliott, who has emerged as an exciting track prospect over the past 18 months with some eye-catching results in the 200m and 400m, doesn’t like to think too much before the gun.

She is calm — but tries to empty her mind — before switching on the adrenalin as the race starts.

“It gets a bit wild,” Elliott tells the Weekend Herald. “I’m not sure how other athletes prepare for a race but I let my mind go to a bit of a feral place. There aren’t really any conscious thoughts, and if they are, I try not to engage with them.”

It’s become an important process for the 25-year-old, who competes in the 400m at the New Zealand Championships in Wellington this weekend, after placing second in the 100m final in 11.36s behind Zoe Hobbs yesterday.

“If I can manage to get there, it works incredibly well,” said Elliott. “If I don’t, I feel I don’t execute my races as well, or run as aggressively as I should.”

It might be unusual but the recipe is working. Elliott had a breakout season last year, culminating in qualification for the 400m at the world championships in Doha. She won the 400m nationals, then the Brisbane Track Classic, before beating the best Australians to become Oceania champion. It was an extraordinary sequence, considering in the preceding four years, she had raced the 400m only three times, as she concentrated more on the shorter sprints.

Rosie Elliott composes herself before the women's 400m event at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. Photo / Photosport

The signs are good this summer. Elliott ran a new 400m personal best of 52.16s at the Cooks Classic in Whanganui in January, before a stunning 200m effort in Christchurch two weeks ago, eclipsing the national record of 22.90s that had stood for 14 years by clocking 22.81s.

“It still hasn’t really sunk in,” said Elliott. “It’s a bit of a weird feeling — [that 200m mark] wasn’t really a goal I set for this season.”

Her objectives this year centre on the 400m and making the cut again for the world champs in Hungary, and laying foundations for an Olympic campaign next year.

After this weekend, she will next run the Sir Graeme Douglas event in Auckland on March 16, then the Brisbane Track Classic on March 25 before targeting events in Europe.

She has big goals, including a “low 51 second” for the 400m.

Elliott is confident about lowering another national record — the 51.60s set by Kim Robertson in 1980 — if conditions are right. That is unlikely to happen in the capital this weekend, with high winds forecast.

“That is something we deal with but if you are aiming for a particular time that does put it on the backburner,” said Elliott. “Wellington is a pretty unfortunate choice of location for a big meet such as nationals, particularly two years in a row and leading into an Olympic year. I don’t think that gives us the best opportunity for qualifying but we work with what we have got.”

To reach Budapest, Elliott needs to clock the aggressive automatic qualification time of 51s, which around half the field are expected to do, or book her ticket via world ranking. She currently makes the cut via rankings but will need more points, particularly as Europeans emerge from their winter.

In seeking improvement, there are two key factors. The first is learning how to run her own race rather than reacting to others, and trusting her body and training.

“Just knowing it will happen,” said Elliott. “It doesn’t really matter when it happens, but it will happen, because I know I’m capable of it.”

But it’s not easy. She admits the event can be “horrible”.

“There really isn’t any other way to describe it,” said Elliott. “Although I have found the more I’ve trained, the longer that feeling holds off, so you don’t really get hit with how awful it was until maybe a minute after the race, when [the lactic acid] just rushes into your muscles and you’re in quite a lot of pain.”

The second chapter of Elliott’s athletic journey is going well.

After promising results as a junior, she took a prolonged break from the sport while at university in Dunedin, where she also suffered a serious concussion playing rugby.

It was “nasty” and she had to deal with post-concussion syndrome and various symptoms for almost a year, which forced her to delay some exams.

But she has since thrived, especially in a different training environment and more competitive squad culture. Based in Christchurch, Elliott has enjoyed the approach of coach Andrew Maclennan and says fellow national representative Anna Percy and Tiann Whelpton bring plenty of intensity to sessions.

“There’s more people around me who have these big goals.”

The Europe journey will be challenging, physically and financially – “it’s not looking like a cheap trip” – but necessary, as she builds her experience on the bigger stage.

”There’s a way to go,” said Elliott. “I’m still learning how my body should be feeling as I move through each phase of the 400. But it’s exciting and I need to trust the process.”