Ashleigh Nelson (sprinter)

Ashleigh Nelson (born 20 February 1991) is a former English sprinter^[1] who now competes as a bobsledder.^[2]

Ashleigh Nelson

Nelson in 2014
Personal information
Nationality	British English
Born	(1991-02-20) 20 February 1991 (age 34) Stoke-on-Trent
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Parent(s)	Stephen Nelson, Angela Nelson
Sport
Country	UK
Sport	Women's Athletics
Event	Sprinting
Medal record Representing  Great Britain World Championships 2019 Doha 4 × 100 m relay 2013 Moscow 4 × 100 m relay European Championships 2014 Zürich 4 × 100 m relay 2014 Zürich 100 m World Junior Championships 2008 Bydgoszcz 100 m World Youth Championships 2007 Ostrava 100 m Representing  England Commonwealth Games 2022 Birmingham 4 × 100 m relay 2014 Glasgow 4 × 100 m relay

Athletics

Ashleigh was the first Brit to win a medal in 40 years taking away a bronze medal in the 100 metres and a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2014 European Championships. In the 4 × 100 metres relay, she also won a bronze medal at the 2013 World Championships and a silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. Her personal bests are 11.19 secs (2014) in the 100 m and 22.85 secs (2019) in the 200 m.^[3]

Representing England, she was a gold medalist in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham as part of the 4 × 100 metres relay squad.

Bobsleigh

After missing out on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris Nelson made the decision to switch to bobsleigh.^[4] She was approached on social media by Adele Nicoll about taking up bobsleigh.^[5] She is now part of the British team looking to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics.^{[citation needed]} Nelson competed alongside Nicoll in the 2-women event at the 2025 IBSF World Championships; it was her third ever bobsleigh event.^[5]

Personal

Nelson was born in Stoke-on-Trent and is cousins of both reality television contestant Wes Nelson and footballer Curtis Nelson.^[6] Her older brother Alexander was also a sprinter at international level as they both were selected to represent Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.^[7]

Ashleigh is an advocate for mental health awareness and is an ambassador for the charity Sane.^[8]