Abbie Donnelly

Abbie Donnelly (born 2 September 1996) is a British track and field athlete and cross country runner. She was a bronze medalist in the individual and gold medalist in the team event at the 2023 European Cross Country Championships.She won gold in the team half marathon at the 2024 European Athletics Championships.

Early life
From Lincolnshire, Donnelly had an early start to athletics as her sister Laura were taken along as children to attend Lincoln Wellington Athletics Club by her father, who was a keen middle-distance runner. She became the English schools cross country champion in 2015.

Career
In 2018, Donnelly was part of the Great Britain U23 team that won the bronze medal at the 2018 European Cross Country Championships, held in Tilburg, Netherlands. She then won gold as part of the British women's senior team at the 2019 European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon.

Donnelly was the highest European finisher at the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, New South Wales, in February 2023, as she finished 24th overall.

Donnelly finished third in The Big Half in London in September 2023, a result that qualified her for the World Road Running Championships in Riga later that year. In Riga, she finished 25th overall in the half marathon, and the British team won a bronze medal in the event.

In December 2023, Donnelly was a bronze medalist in the individual and gold medalist in the team event, at the 2023 European Cross Country Championships.

On 20 January 2024, she won the London International Cross Country event. She ran a new half marathon personal best time of 69:10 in Barcelona on 11 February 2024. In March 2024, she won the UK Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships at Wollaton Park. She finished twentieth at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships in Serbia on 30 March 2024. She ran a 10,000 metres personal best of 31:45.37 in London in May 2024. She was selected to run the half marathon for Britain at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome. She won a gold medal in the team half marathon.

Personal life
Donnelly graduated in History from the University of Loughborough in 2019 and began a PHD at the University.