DON’T CALL IT an encore. Those come at the end of performances, and Elle St. Pierre is of no mind to exit the stage just yet.
Yet St. Pierre, the indoor American Record-holder in the mile and 3000, has something like a repeat performance in mind. Last May just before Mother’s Day, she and husband Jamie welcomed Harvey Mark St. Pierre, a son, into the world.
If you’re hearing an echo, that’s probably because Harvey Mark — Harvey to honor Elle’s great-great-grandfather and Mark to honor Jamie’s father — has an older brother, Ivan, born in March of 2023. This time it was “baby makes four.”
Seven months after Harvey’s arrival, his mom lined up for the Abbott Dash To The Finish Line 5K in New York City on November 01 and with a 15:35 time in 3rd raced creditably with winner Annie Rodenfels (15:33), Weini Kelati (15:34) and Parker Valby (15:37) in a deep U.S. field.
Since then, St. Pierre says, life has “been pretty great. I’ve had a lot of fun getting back into shape. And [the NYC road race] was a great way to, you know, kind of test the waters and see how things were. And, you know, the energy in New York is awesome.
“So that kinda set me up well, and I had a great holiday season with the kiddos and then headed out to Flagstaff [for altitude preparation] and have been training hard. So I’m looking forward to putting that hard work to good use.”
On Saturday, she will again assay her fitness in a 3000 at Boston’s New Balance Indoor GP — against Paris Olympic 1500 silver medalist Jessica Hull, a reprise of sorts of the duel the two fought in the same meet’s 3K two years ago.
Last time around in her first maternity return, St. Pierre, the ’22 World Indoor silver medalist at 1500, lost little time in returning to action. She cranked a 4:23.3 road PR placing 7th at the 5th Avenue Mile, also seven months after giving birth.
Her racing during the ’24 indoor season was of even higher quality. Record quality, in fact. In early February, St. Pierre won the mile at the Millrose Games in American Record time, 4:16.41. Runner-up in the race, 2.63 behind, was Hull, an opponent of St. Pierre’s since college days. A week earlier at the New Balance Indoor GP, Aussie Hull had prevailed 8:24.93–8:25.25 in a rollicking 3K battle with St. Pierre.
Vermont native St. Pierre showed up faster yet in March at the World Indoor in Glasgow to win a shocking 3K gold over 3-time World Champs gold medalist (indoors and out) Gudaf Tsegay; Hull placed 4th. What’s more, St. Pierre cut 4-seconds-plus from the AR with her 8:20.87i clocking.
St. Pierre, guided by coach Mark Coogan, had reached a new, definedly elite level on the middle distance stage. Her 14:34.12 PR at 5000 in May of ’24 showed she brought range with that. Her Olympic Trials meet record 5K win demonstrated she could race effectively at the longer distance, as well.
On the Trials final afternoon, she PRed at 3:55.99 in what was easily the fastest-ever U.S. Olympic Trials women’s 1500. She opted for the metric mile in Paris, and in the final, another rocket ship of a race, she placed 8th, two places better than her 10th in 2021.
Now St. Pierre is exploring questions on the minds of many: can she again spin out top-class form following maternity? Does having two little ones in the household make that effort a heavier lift?
“It’s definitely harder,” she told a Boston press conference media gaggle, laughing as she said it. “A bit more harder than I was expecting, but it is easier in some ways. There are some things that are easier, but it’s just different kinds of challenges. But I’ve had a lot of fun with the kiddos and am very thankful to have them and bring them along.”
Of the opener, St. Pierre predicted, “I know it’s gonna be a competitive race ‘cause Jess [sitting next to her as she spoke] is in it. It’s gonna be honest. It’s gonna be fun. You know, I’d like to get a standard and just have fun repping New Balance out there and with the crowd.”
The auto-Q mark to make the USATF Indoor Champs (February 28–March 01, in Staten Island, New York) is 8:45.00. The World Indoor Champs (Toruń, Poland) auto-Q is a stiff 8:35.00, though WA will fill the field out to a target depth of 15, should it come to that.
Toruń, St. Pierre says, is “definitely on the horizon. But I’m just kinda trying to get through this weekend and then Millrose (February 01), so, yeah, I’ll be thinking about Worlds after that.”
Viz the summer season — with the new Ultimate Champs at its end, rather than a World Championships — St. Pierre’s mindset is, “I think it will be fun to do some different meets. You know, it being an off-year for Worlds, I’ll probably have a little bit of a different schedule, so I’m looking forward to that. But again, just trying to get back into it, so I haven’t thought too much about outdoors yet.”
Asked by T&FN’s David Bennet in Boston if she planned to stop at two, St. Pierre laughed and retorted, “Kids or Olympics?”
“Kids,” Bennet, also laughing, clarified.
“Hopefully 3 Olympics,” St. Pierre shot back, punting on part of the question — a skill not usually associated in the literal sense with distance runners.
