Born in Canberra, Melissa Breen stood at the pinnacle of Australian athletics for over a decade.
Commencing at Tuggeranong Little Athletics Club, Melissa progressed through the local pathway to achieve national junior success, winning the 100m junior title in 2007-08 in a time of 11.83 seconds.
She was selected for the 2008 World Junior Championships in Poland while still in Year 12, making the semi-finals.
For the next decade she consistently performed at the highest levels, representing Australia at Olympic Games in London and Rio. She attended three World Championships and three Commonwealth Games, making the semi-finals at each Games, competing also in the 4x100m final in 2014 in which the Australian team finished fifth.
2014 was to be a key year in her career.
In February at the ACT Championships, she beat Melinda Gainsford-Taylor’s 100m national record which had stood for 20 years, running 11.11 seconds.
This new record would stand for 10 years,
Melissa won nine national 100m titles and four 200m championships, named Athletics ACT’s Female Sprinter of the Year from 2009 to 2014.
A regular competitor at Stawell after first competing there in 2009 and winning in 2012, she was inducted in the Stawell Gift Hall of Fame in 2024, becoming only the second female to receive the honour after Olympic legend Cathy Freeman.
Melissa retired from athletics in 2020.