| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 12 June 1979 Wisbech, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 2 in (157 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 53 kg (117 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ellen Marie Falkner MBE (née Alexander; born 12 June 1979) is an English international lawn and indoor bowler from Cambridge, England.[1] Falkner was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to lawn bowls.[2][3]
She retired from international bowls and relocated to Australia in 2021 after being appointed as Bowls Australia’s High Performance Manager for Para Bowls.[4]
In 2004, she won the gold medal in the fours with Jayne Christie, Jean Baker and Amy Monkhouse at the 2004 World Outdoor Bowls Championship.[5] In 2016, she was part of the fours team with Rebecca Wigfield, Wendy King and Jamie-Lea Winch who won the silver medal at the 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Christchurch.[6] She then won a bronze medal in the pairs with Sophie Tolchard.[7] In 2020 she was selected for the 2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Australia.[8]
Ellen represented England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games winning gold in the fours[9] and eight years later won another gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the woman's pairs competition with Amy Monkhouse.[10] Ellen also competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games and won a further gold[11] in the women's triples event with Sophie Tolchard and Sian Gordon.[12] She was selected as part of the England team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, on the Gold Coast in Queensland where she won a bronze medal in the Triples with Katherine Rednall and Sian Honnor.[13]
Falkner won a third World Indoor singles title during the 2016 World Indoor Bowls Championship after defeating Rebecca Field in the final. This success came ten years after her previous two victories.[14] In 2019 she won the mixed pairs gold with Robert Paxton at the 2019 World Indoor Bowls Championship.[15] At the 2021 World Indoor Bowls Championship Falkner became the first female player to reach the final of the open pairs event (playing with Greg Harlow).[16][17]
In 2005 she won the triples and fours gold medals at the Atlantic Bowls Championships.[18] After a singles bronze and pairs silver in 2009 she won the fours gold medal and triples silver medal at the 2011 Atlantic Championships in Cyprus.[19] Four years later in 2015 she won the triples silver medal and fours bronze medal at the Championships, also in Cyprus.[20]
After winning the 2011 National singles crown she subsequently won the singles at the British Isles Bowls Championships in 2012.[21] She also won the two wood title in 2011 and has won eleven National titles in total; two singles, three CofC, four pairs (2007, 2008, 2012, 2017 all with Sue Alexander), one triples (2007) and one junior title.
National titles
