Ashleigh Gentle is a triathlete and Olympian who was awarded a Scholarship within the 2012 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program, she was paired with Karla Gilbert OAM as her Mentor.

Ashleigh was born in Brisbane in 1991 and came to triathlon after winning many races as a junior middle-distance runner.

In 2007, she won the State and National Triathlon Championships and was chosen to represent Australia at the World Junior Triathlon Championships, where she won a silver medal. She returned to the same event a year later and won gold, before taking out the ITU Triathlon Premium Asian Cup Race in 2009. Multiple medals at major championships earned her the Rising Sun Award from Women sport Queensland in 2008 and 2009.

In 2010, Ashleigh continued to excel, winning the ITU World Junior Championships in Hungary, placing second at the Triathlon Premium Asian Cup race in Beijing, and winning gold at the Hamilton Island Triathlon in the Elite Category.

2011 was exceptionally busy for Ashleigh, as she moved from junior competition into the U23 age bracket. In July, she cemented her dominance, winning the ITU World Cup Triathlon in Edmonton, Canada and was crowned Oceania Champion as the highest placed Australian or New Zealand athlete at the OTU Oceania Championships.

Between 2011 and 2021, Ashleigh competed in World Cup and World Championship events, and represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games, as well as the Olympic Games in 2016 and 2021.

Honours & Achievements

• 2012: Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder.
• 2012: Auckland World Championships – Individual 26.
• 2013: Hamburg Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships – Mixed 4^th.
• 2013: London World Championships – Individual 9^th.
• 2014: Glasgow Commonwealth Games – Individual 9^th.
• 2016: Cozumel World Championships – Individual 10^th.
• 2017: Rotterdam World Championships – Individual 6^th.
• 2017: Hamburg Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships – Mixed 1^st.
• 2018: Gold Coast Commonwealth Games – Mixed Team Relay Gold.
• 2018: Gold Coast Commonwealth Games – Individual 5th (58.08min).
• 2020: Tokyo Olympic Games – Mixed, 9^th.
• 2020: Tokyo Olympic Games – Solo, LAP.

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Image: Delly Carr / TA Media