Sarah Billings

Last updated
Sarah Billings
Bislett Games 2024 - Sarah Billings (cropped).jpg
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1998-03-07) 7 March 1998 (age 27)
Sport
Sport Athletics
Event Middle distance running
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)800: 1:57.83 (Shanghai, 2025)
1500 m: 3:59.24 (Rome, 2025)
Mile: 4:32.30 (Whanganui, 2023)
3000 m: 8:47.11 (Sydney, 2024)
5000 m: 15:41.41 (Melbourne, 2024)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia
Oceania Athletics Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2019 Townsville 1500 m

Sarah Billings (born 7 March 1998) is a track and field athlete from Australia. She is a former national champion over 1500 metres. [1]

Contents

Early life

She attended Melbourne University. [2] [3] Billings grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Kew and attended Ruyton Girls School.

Career

Billings competed at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in the 800 metres and 4 × 400 m relay. [4] The following year, she won the national U20 title over 800 metres. [5] She won the Australian national 1500 metres title in Melbourne in December 2019. [6] [7] However, a string of injuries limited her to just four races over the two-year period of 2020–2021. [8]

She was a pacemaker at the Diamond League event in Stockholm in 2022. [9] In November 2022, she won the Victorian 5000 m Championships at Box Hill, Victoria. [10] In February 2023, she ran a personal best of 4:32.30 for the mile to finish second at the Cooks Classic Mile in Wanganui. [11] In June 2023, she acted as a pacemaker for Beatrice Chebet to break a 24-year old meet record at the Diamond League event in Oslo. [12]

She ran a personal best of 4:38.97 for the road Mile at the 2023 World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga. [13]

In April 2024, she finished fourth in the woman's 1500 m at the Australian Athletics Championships. The following week she set a new personal best of 3:59.59 for the distance, inside the Olympic qualifying time for the 2024 Games in Paris, at the 2024 Xiamen Diamond League. [14] [15] She won the 1500 m at the World Continental Tour Gold event in Tokyo on 19 May 2024. [16]

She was selected for the 800 metres at the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing in March 2025. [17] She finished second at the Australian Athletics Championships over 1500 metres in 4:11.51 on 12 April 2025. [18] She ran a personal best 2:33.45 for the 1000 metres at the 2025 Xiamen Diamond League event in China, in April 2025. [19] Competing at the 2025 Shanghai Diamond League, she ran a personal best 1:57.83 to place second in the women's 800 m race. [20] On 6 June 2025, she finished second over 1500 metres at the 2025 Golden Gala in Rome, part of the 2025 Diamond League, running 3:59.24. [21] She ran a 2:33.17 personal best over 1000 metres in Monaco at the 2025 Herculis. [22] She placed seventh in the 800 metres at the Diamond League Final in Zurich on 28 August. [23] In September 2025, she competed over 1500 metres at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, without advancing to the semi-finals. [24] [25]

Personal life

Her brother Jack Billings is a former AFL player for St Kilda and Melbourne. [26]

References

  1. ↑ "Sarah Billings". World Athletics. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  2. ↑ "Baden and Billings lead medal haul in Sydney". muac.org. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  3. ↑ "800m record lasts just 9 days as Billings flies at Hunter". muac.org. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  4. ↑ "Suck it up and work your butt off". 30 November 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  5. ↑ Turner, David (13 April 2017). "Young middle-distance squad at Box Hill Athletics Club is taking great strides forward". Herald Sun. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  6. ↑ "Zatopek:10 - Australian 10,000m Championships". World Athletics. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "National Record To McSweyn – Zatopek:10 2019". Inside Athletics. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  8. ↑ Wolff, Riley (17 May 2022). "THE RETURN OF SARAH BILLINGS". Tenpo Journal. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  9. ↑ "Mary Moraa storms to victory in the Stockholm Diamond League". pd.co.ke. 1 July 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  10. ↑ "Sarah Billings and Lachlan Herd claim Victorian 5000m titles". Runnerstribe. November 18, 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  11. ↑ "Whanganui Cooks Gardens remains the home of the mile". New Zealand Herald. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  12. ↑ Ng'Ang'A, Samuel (16 June 2023). "Chebet breaks 24-year meet record at Oslo Diamond League". The-star.co.ke. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  13. ↑ Moorhouse, Lachlan (13 October 2023). "BREAKING DOWN TO BREAKING THROUGH - BILLINGS RETURNS TO WORLD STAGE". Athletics.com.au. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  14. ↑ "TEEN SENSATION LEWIS STUNS WORLD CHAMPION IN DIAMOND LEAGUE DEBUT". Athletics.com. 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  15. ↑ "Wanda Diamond League Xiamen". World Athletics. 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  16. ↑ "Seiko Golden Grand Prix Tokyo 2024 - Results". Watch Athletics. 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  17. ↑ "WORLD CHAMPIONS AND EMERGING SPRINTERS NAMED ON AUSTRALIAN TEAM FOR WORLD ATHLETICS INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS". Athletics.com.au. 12 March 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  18. ↑ "Australian Championships". World Athletics. 12 April 2025. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  19. ↑ "Results - Xiamen Diamond League 2025". Watch Athletics. 26 April 2025. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  20. ↑ "Tinch and Duplantis fly in Shanghai/Keqiao". World Athletics. 3 May 2025. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
  21. ↑ "GB's Hunt second in 200 m at Rome Diamond League meet". BBC Sport. 6 June 2025. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  22. ↑ "Results - Monaco Diamond League Herculis 2025". Watch Athletics. 11 July 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  23. ↑ "Results - Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League 2025". Watch Athletics. 28 August 2025. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
  24. ↑ "World Athletics Championships, Tokyo 2025". World Athletics. 18 Sep 2025. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  25. ↑ "GREEN AND GOLD TO SHINE IN TOKYO WITH LARGEST ATHLETICS TEAM YET". Athletics.com.au. 3 September 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  26. ↑ "Hard work is how Billings rolls". Herald Sun. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2024.