Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Ellia moved to the Netherlands at the age of nine with her British mother, Dutch father and 2 sisters.

With many ice-skating fanatics in the family, Ellia was introduced to the sport at an early age, joining a local skating club when she was 9. She was never selected for any of the talent or development teams, missing many opportunities that would help her take her skating to the next level.

She began training with a personal trainer who specialized in long track speed skating and soon after was recognized by the long track division of British speed skating. This gave her access to better sports facilities and training.

Due to hard work and commitment, Ellia was invited to represent TeamGB at the 2017 Winter Universiade and also qualified for the World Cups, the European Sprint/Allround Championships and World Championships.

With no 400m ice rinks in the UK, long track speed skating is not a popular or well-recognised sport in the UK. To fund her Olympic dream she set up Brew’22 with boyfriend Cornelius Kersten.  They sourced their own high-quality beans and set up a web shop, selling the unique single-cup filters, bags of beans and specialty accessories in the hope that coffee lovers would find then, love their coffee and support their Olympic journey at the same time.

Due to everyone who followed their journey, bought their coffee and supported their dream, both athletes made their Olympic Debut on the ice of Beijing!

Ellia’s first season with Team Novus has been an exceptional success. With multiple top ten World Cup finishes and a Bronze medal during the European Champions, Ellia’s determination, courage and trust in following her own path, is definitely paying off.