EBONY LANE

BIOGRAPHY

Involved in athletics from age four, Ebony Lane would wait until she was 19 to make it to Nationals. Just prior to the pandemic, aged 21, Ebony, who had made two Stawell Gift finals, was making progress in the sprints after turning her focus from gift running to the track. Then mid pandemic she made remarkable progress smashing her PBs, highlighted by an outstanding 100m time of 11.39 in Brisbane. Over the next couple of years Ebony became a key member of the National 4x100m relay which would eventually in 2024 break the 24-year-old National record. They broke it twice, the second time in May at the World Relays as the team qualified for the Paris Olympics.

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From a family of athletes (beach sprinters), Ebony Lane, started her own journey in athletics aged 4. When they moved to the small Victorian country town of Echuca, sports were limited, but athletics was an option and there was also no beach to follow her parents sporting journey. 

It would take until she was 16 for Ebony to make a State final and age 19 the Nationals. She was a regular at the professional running gifts, making the 70m and 120m gifts finals at Stawell in 2018 and 2019. After this, she decided to focus on track, rather than the gifts.

There was clear progression when in early 2020 she ran PBs of 11.80 (100m) and 24.67 (200m). Then the pandemic closed down the world. During the lockdown in 2020 Ebony was working in childcare and was unable to join her training squad. Her busy job kept life very normal for Ebony and she focused on becoming mentally healthy and really finding the reason behind not only training hard but setting goals, eating well, thinking positive and celebrating the small successes.

Mid-pandemic, in the summer of 2021, the results of this approach were evident. She broke the Victorian 100 yards record with a time of 10.59, then in February ran 11.48, a 0.32 seconds PB, then 11.39 in March. 

After a best of 11.52 in 2022, her 2023 campaign may not have produced a PB, but she has made progress with her consistency of marks highlighted by a best of 11.41 and fourth at Nationals. In July 2023 she joined the National relay team to compete in front of 50,000 spectators at the London Diamond League where the relay ran 43.46. In August she was named in the relay team for the 2023 World Championships – her Australian debut. In Budapest unfortunately the relay team dropped the baton, however the team ran well at a few Diamond Leagues Meets.

Domestically in 2024 she set two PBs, 11.33, then 11.30 and a wind assisted 11.27. She also won bronze in the 100m at Nationals. But it was the relay where she had significant impact. As the lead off runner, she helped the team set two National records in the 4x100m, first breaking the record in March in Sydney (42.94), then at the World Relays in May (42.83) where the team qualified for the Paris Olympics.

Memorable sporting moment: London Diamond League 2023 - I will never forget that moment when the crowd of 50,000 went silent for the gun….Hero: All the short female sprinters - Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce and Marie-Josée Ta Lou…Most influential person in your career: Definitely my parents for getting me into the sport. They have never stopped believing in me and have ensured I have never been disappointed in anything that's occurred in my career…Advice to your young self: I wish I could tell her “the girls that are beating you now are no longer in the sport or at the top, your time is coming when it matters”...Hobbies: I really love my job – helping people achieve their fitness results is very rewarding…Education: Diploma in Sports Development, Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care, and Cert III and IV in Fitness…Other sports: Netball - State Level…Interesting fact: torn her ACL in her knees in 2016 playing AFL They still have not been repaired…Pandemic years: Training in Melbourne’s lock down was definitely challenging but it was also one of the best things to happen in my career. It made me disciplined, work hard and turn up day after day with only my own support to rely on…Sporting memory: Winning the Rye Women’s Gift in 2017 was a personal highlight for Ebony who remembered fondly racing in the Little Athletics Gift at Rye as a youngster. “I have a photo of me on the podium back in under 13s which is a great memory to hold onto.”

@ 21 May 24 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au