Callum Elson

Callum Elson (born 31 December 1998) is a British middle-distance and cross-country runner. He won a silver medal in the road mile at the 2023 World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga.^[1]

Callum Elson

Personal information
Nationality	Great Britain
Born	(1998-12-31) 31 December 1998 (age 26)
Alma mater	Collingwood College, Durham (BA)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Mile
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	800m 1:49.87 (Watford, 2023) 1500m 3:35.39 (London, 2023) One Mile 3:58.74 (Philadelphia, 2023) 3000m 8:15.64 (Leeds, 2021) 5000m 13:52.76 (Philadelphia, 2022) 10,000n 30:11.87 (Leeds, 2021) One Mile Road: 3:56.41 (Riga, 2023)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  Great Britain World Road Running Championships 2023 Riga Mile

Career

A Cambridge and Coleridge athlete,^[2] Elson ran as a youngster and finished 16th in the English Schools Cross Country Champs in 2017, but while at the University of Durham concentrated on playing football and only began running seriously again during the COVID-19 Pandemic.^[3] He studied for an MBA at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts and returned to the UK having won NCAA division II mile (indoor) and 1500m (outdoor) titles in 2022.^[4]

He represented Britain for the first time at the European Cross Country Championships in Turin, Italy in December 2022.^[5] In February 2023, he was selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, New South Wales.^[6]

Elson ran a new area record time of 3:56.41 to win the silver medal in the road mile at the 2023 World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga.^[7] He was selected for the 2023 European Cross Country Championships in Brussels in December 2023.^[8]

On 18 February 2024, he was runner-up at the 2024 British Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham, over 1500 metres.^[9][10] He was selected for the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.^[11] However, he suffered an aches injury at the event and did not return to the track until February 2025.^[12]

Personal life

During his teens, Elson lived in Leeds - studying at Roundhay School in the same year group as Olympic cyclist Tom Pidcock OBE. In the early 2020s, Elson began recording his athletics journey on social media using the moniker "The Distance Project".^[13] A football fan, he is a supporter of Leeds United.^[14]