Elle Purrier St. Pierre

Purrier was raised in Montgomery Center, Vermont, a small town near the Canadian border.^[1][2] She lived on a dairy farm, where she woke up at 5 a.m. each day before school to milk cows and perform other chores, such as throwing hay bales and caring for pigs.^[1][3] At Richford High School, Purrier took up running alongside basketball. She competed at a high level in track and cross country, with first-place finishes at the New England Cross Country Championships and Northeast Regional championships for the Nike Cross Nationals. She was named Vermont Gatorade Cross Country Athlete of the Year three times, receiving the honor in 2010, 2011, and 2012.^[4] Purrier was inducted into the hall of fame of the Vermont Principals' Association in 2022.^[4]

Purrier competed for the University of New Hampshire from 2013 to 2018, where she was NCAA champion and an 11-time All-American.^[5] As a freshman, she ran 4:36 in the mile.^[6] By her sophomore year, she improved her time to 4:29.71, setting a school record and achieving one of the top ten fastest times by a collegiate athlete. Her fast time in the mile marked her as a favorite to win the event at the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships.^[6] At those championships, she finished third after leading for much of the race but was overtaken in the final stretch.^[7] Later that year, Purrier improved one place to take second in the mile at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Following several podium finishes at previous NCAA championships, Purrier won a title in the mile at the 2018 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, finishing in 4:31.76. She led for most of the race and finished just ahead of Dani Jones and Niki Hiltz, with less than a second difference between them.^[8]

Purrier also competed at a high level in the steeple while at the University of New Hampshire. In 2014, she won a national title in the 3000 meter steeplechase,^[9] and went on to place ninth in the final of the event at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics. Later in her collegiate career, she finished third in the steeplechase at the 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships. In 2016, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Purrier its Northeast Region Track Athlete of the Year.^[10]

Purrier majored in nutrition, graduating in 2018.^{[citation needed]}

Purrier signed with New Balance in July 2018.^[11]

2021

On February 13, 2021, Purrier broke the American indoor two mile record with a time of 9:10.28.^[15] At the 2020 USA Olympic Trials, she won the gold medal in the 1500 m with a time of 3:58.03, setting a personal best and breaking the meet record.^[16] She competed at the 2020 Olympic Games in August 2021. She finished 10th in the 1500 m.^[12]

Purrier is a dairy farmer from Vermont.^[18] She married her longtime boyfriend Jamie St. Pierre in 2020 and gave birth to their son in March 2023.^[12] Their second son was born in May 2025.^[21]

The St. Pierre family runs the Pleasant Valley Farm in Berkshire, Vermont. In April 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents raided the farm and detained eight undocumented migrant farmworkers.^[22][23] It has been called the "largest immigration enforcement action in recent Vermont history" and was described as an "injustice" by members of the Migrant Justice Farmworker Coordinating Committee.^[24]

All sourced from World Athletics, as of February 11, 2024.^[27]