Michelle Jenneke has shared some joyful news – she’s engaged!
The Olympian revealed that she and fellow Australian athletics star Alex Beck are officially set to tie the knot, announcing the exciting milestone online after keeping their relationship completely under wraps.
The 31-year-old hurdler kept it beautifully simple, captioning the post, “8.5 years in the making”, alongside red heart and ring emojis.
Jenneke looked radiant as she proudly showed off her engagement ring in the stunning announcement photos.
In another sweet snap, she planted a kiss on Beck while cupping his cheek, giving fans a closer look at what appears to be a gorgeous three-stone design.
The post was quickly flooded with love, with fellow Aussie athletics stars including Mia Gross, Brooke Stratton, Nicola Olyslagers and Cameron McEntyre sharing their congratulations, alongside many others from the sporting world.
The engagement marks a true hard launch for Jenneke, who had never publicly posted about her partner before. Both she and Beck – a 400-metre runner with three national titles and a Tokyo Olympics selection to his name – have long kept their romance private.
Neither athlete had shared details of their relationship on social media prior to the announcement, though eagle-eyed fans may have noticed they followed each other and liked one another’s posts.
Known for guarding her personal life closely, Jenneke has always preferred to keep things low-key. While many within the athletics circuit were aware of the relationship, the couple chose to keep it off social media – until now.
Jenneke first rose to international fame thanks to her infectious energy and iconic “jiggling” dance moves behind the starting blocks, which captured hearts around the world.
She first drew global attention for the playful moves while competing at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona back in 2012.
Most recently, she competed at the Paris Olympics last year, later revealing she ran the repechage round of the women’s 100m hurdles despite a ruptured hamstring.
“… I ran today with one less hamstring than usual and obviously that was pretty difficult, but … I said to the doctor, ‘Can I still run?'” she told the media at the time.
“I didn’t want my Olympic campaign to end the way it was yesterday and I really just wanted to give it my all today.
“I knew that making that semi-final and running under 13 seconds missing one of your hamstrings is probably pretty impossible, but I wanted to prove to myself and the rest of Australia that I’ve got grit in me and I’m not going to give up easily.
“The general consensus was that it’s a full rupture so I can’t make that any worse, so provided I was still hurdling in a way that wasn’t jeopardising other parts of my body, if I wanted to race then I had the all-clear to do that.”
From grit on the track to love off it – it’s a big moment for Jenneke, and fans couldn’t be happier for the newly engaged couple.
Images: Instagram
