The Girl with a Gift | Stawell Gift Winner Bella Pasquali Bound for Brisbane

At 16-years-old, Bella Pasquali is having the week of her life. A golden run on Easter Monday saw the Wangaratta teenager win the coveted Stawell Gift worth $40,000, but it’s back to business ahead of Sunday’s 400m final at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships.

The Year 11 student coached by Jason Boulton etched her name into history when sprinting to stardom over 120m at the prestigious Stawell Gift, winning in 13.55-seconds off a mark of 7.25m. Despite the breakthrough win, Pasquali has wasted little time in turning her attention to being crowned the Under 18 Australian champion over 400m – already the reigning champion from the Under 17 ranks.

“It’s definitely been a big switch. It’s a completely different event that I’m running at Nationals, so it’s a different mindset and a different gameplan,” Pasquali said.

“I started training properly during COVID, that’s when I really started to get personal bests and improving a lot at state and national level. My first year of Nationals I came third in the 400m, then the year after I came first and also at All Schools in December.”

Born into an athletic family and competing for as long as she can remember, Pasquali’s dreams extend beyond her Stawell Gift triumph, with balancing her career across the professional and amateur scenes high on her priority list.

“It is a really big dream of mine to compete in the green and gold. I have grown up with athletics, both my parents were runners. Mum was pretty successful, she still says to me that she has a faster personal best over 400m, I don’t even know what it is – 52 or 53 something,” Pasquali said.

“She was in Tamsyn’s [Lewis Manou] age group and she always tells me that it was one of the hardest age groups to compete in, but I know that she does have a good 400m time!”

The level-headed teen will gun for selection in the Commonwealth Youth Games team bound for the Trinidad and Tobago this August, but remains hesitant to make bold claims with the classy field of Under 18 girls featuring the likes of South Australia’s Charlotte McAuliffe.

Pasquali has taken a week of publicity in her stride when arriving in Brisbane as one of the emerging names in Australian athletics, but the sprinter is keeping things casual ahead of today’s Under 18 Girls 400m first round – hoping to better her 54.96-second personal best this weekend.

“This whole experience has been very overwhelming being from such a small country town of Wangaratta. The support has been amazing,” Pasquali said.

The Victorian’s Australian title bid has been somewhat compromised by her Stawell Gift preparation; a sacrifice that proved worthwhile as Pasquali netted the $40,000 prize in the world’s richest foot race.

“When I won the Rye Gift in January, I didn’t know how much of a chance I would be to win Stawell but I knew I could be in the top 10. I switched my training from 400m training to more sprint training and I was improving and realised I could do this,” Pasquali said.

The gun will fire in the first round of the Under 18 Girls 400m at 6:55pm AEST tonight (Friday April 14).  

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 14/4/2023