Matt Elias
Inducted 2018
Track
Won double silver at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay. Set a Welsh record of 49.11 seconds and was European Under-23 champion in 2001.
Biography
Matt Elias was a British 400m hurdler who achieved his greatest success at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, winning silver in both the individual 400m hurdles and the 4 x 400m relay for Wales. His relay leg was timed at 44.2 seconds — the fastest of the race.
He set a Welsh record of 49.11 seconds in the heats of the Commonwealth hurdles, a mark that stood for nearly 11 years. He had also been European Under-23 Champion in Amsterdam in 2001 (49.57) and finished fifth in the 4x400m relay at the Athens 2004 Olympics.
Remarkably, Elias and fellow Welsh hurdler Rhys Williams both came from the village of Nantyffyllon. His father was a top British long jumper.