Ellenwood

Sometimes the comeback is so much bigger than the fall. Georgia Ellenwood missed the entire 2017 NCAA outdoor season after breaking her foot on her jumping leg. But in 2018, she won the heptathlon at the NCAA Championships, the Pan American Combined Events Cup and the Canadian Championships.

That is the kind of determination that helps propel an athlete through seven gruelling events, spread over two days, competing with the best in the world with the summer sun making the task even harder. In Ellenwood’s case, it also propelled her to her first Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The 2021 season was make-or-break for the eight-time NCAA All-American. Peak at the right time, surpass even your best results, or risk waiting another three years for the opportunity. Ellenwood rose to the challenge, setting new personal best marks in six of the seven events and banking a new personal best for heptathlon points. Her score of 6,314 in Germany in June, coupled with a strong showing in Austria at the end of May, moved Ellenwood high enough into the world rankings to secure a ticket to Tokyo.

A decorated NCAA career culminated in that comeback 2018 NCAA heptathlon title, making her the first Wisonsin Badger to win a national championship in the event. Ellenwood came up through the youth and junior ranks scoring bronze at the 2016 NACAC Junior Championships in the high jump, preceded by bronze in the heptathlon at the 2013 Pan American Junior Championships.

Now lining up on the sporting world’s biggest stage, Ellenwood will look to continue a season of exceeding everything she has done before.