UNH’s Elle Purrier St. Pierre Moves Onto Semifinal at Olympics

With her family watching in Montgomery, Vermont UNH graduate Elle Purrier St. Pierre finished third to automatically make the semifinals of the women's 1,500 meters at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Running in hot and humid conditions Elle Purrier St. Pierre ran a time of 4:05.34.

"In the last two years she's gone from being a good college runner, a good young pro to super elite and she has a legitimate shot at a medal here over 1,500 meters," NBC's commentators said during her run.

Purrier St. Pierre will run next on Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. Eastern time in the semifinal.

Coming into the Games Purrier St. Pierre broke a 37-year-old record for the fastest U.S. women's indoor mile in February 2020 at 4:16.85 seconds and the two-mile record 9:10.28 earlier this year.

She also set the season's best 1,500 meter time during the U.S. Track and Field Golden Games in May, finishing under four minutes.

During the pandemic she worked with the Vermont Food Bank to distribute free milk to families in need,

St. Pierre has been enjoying her time in Tokyo and showed pictures on her Instagram account of a workout with Heather MacLean and a greeting to her UNH Wildcat family.

Diver Jess Parratto and diving partner Delaney Schnell made history by being the first U.S. pait ot medal in women’s 10-meter platform synchronized diving.

The 26-year-old Vermont native who grew up on a dairy farm graduated from UNH in 2018. During commencement ceremonies, then-UNH President Mark Huddleston asked her to run up to the stage and told the crowd she was the most decorated athlete in UNH history.
Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH