Ellis Cross

Ellis Cross

Personal information
Nationality	British (English)
Born	(1996-09-22) 22 September 1996 (age 28)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Long distance running, Cross country running
Club	AFD

Ellis Cross (born 22 September 1996) is a British long-distance runner. He was British champion over 10000 metres in 2022, and runner-up at the British 10000 metres championships in 2025. ^[1]

Early life

He grew up in Walton outside of Tamworth, Staffordshire. His first athletics club was Tamworth AC. He was coached by Simon King and from the age of 18 years-old by Mick Woods He was a member of the youth academy of Nottingham Forest but gave up football as a teenager to focus on athletics. He studied at St Mary's University, Twickenham, graduating in 2019. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Career

As a junior runner, he was a two-time English national cross country winner at the under-20 level in 2016 and 2017. He was a two-time British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) champion over 5000 metres. He finished fifth in the 10,000m at the 2017 European Athletics U23 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. ^{[5] [2]}

In April 2021, in Ardingly, Sussex, he won the men's 5km road race in his first listed race over the distance in a time of 14:05. ^[6]

Cross later became a member of Aldershot, Farnham & District athletics club. Cross made headlines when he defeated Olympic champion Mo Farah at the Vitality London 10,000 in May 2022, running a personal best time of 28:40. This came despite the fact he was a club runner who had to pay a £37 entry fee to race, and the day before he had been working in the athletics equipment shop Up & Running in Surbiton. The £2,000 prize for winning the event was the first individual prize he had collected in his career. ^{[7] [8] [5] [9] [10]} Later that year, he was selected for the senior men’s British team for the 2022 European Cross Country Championships in Turin. ^[11]

In April 2025, he was the top British finisher placing twelfth in a time of 28:30 in the 10km race at the 2025 European Running Championships in Belgium. ^[12] He was runner-up at the British 10,000 metres championships in June 2025 in Birmingham, running 28:14.47. ^[13]

References

1. "Ellis Cross". World Athletics. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
2. Henderson, Jason (2 May 2022). "ELLIS CROSS TAKES DOWN MO FARAH AT VITALITY LONDON 10,000". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
3. "ELLIS CROSS: "I TOOK NO INSULT IN BEING CALLED A CLUB RUNNER"". Athletics Weekly. 13 August 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
4. ""The best part of funding is student finance" – Ellis Cross on stepping up to the seniors". viewsfromtheconcourse.com. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
5. Merrell, Chloe (2 May 2022). "Meet Ellis Cross, the club runner who bested Mo Farah". Olympics.com. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
6. Smythe, Steve (6 April 2021). "WINS FOR LAWRENCE OKOYE AND ELLIS CROSS - WEEKLY ROUND-UP". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
7. "London Vitality 10,000: Mo Farah beaten by Ellis Cross as Eilish McColgan sets Scottish mark". BBC Sport. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
8. Ingle, Sean (2 May 2022). "Mo Farah admits elite track career may be over after losing to club runner". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
9. "Club runner Ellis Cross beats Mo Farah to the win the London Vitality 10,000". Runners World. 3 May 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
10. Bloom, Ben (4 May 2022). "Ellis Cross interview: 'I'm a normal guy who just beat four-time Olympic legend Mo Farah'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
11. "ELLIS CROSS CALLED-UP TO GB&NI TEAM FOR THE EUROPEAN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMP". British Athletics. 8 December 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
12. "JAMES SEALS TOP FIVE FINISH IN EUROPEAN RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS MARATHON". British Athletics. 13 April 2025. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
13. Collett, Jasmine (14 June 2025). "EMILE CAIRESS AND MEGAN KEITH CLAIM BRITISH 10,000M TITLES". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 15 June 2025.