Laura Nagel
Laura Nagel is a New Zealand middle- and long-distance runner. She won gold at the 2024 Oceania Athletics Championships in the 1500 metres.
Early life
From Hawkes Bay, Nagel attended Taradale High School. She started running as a keep-fit measure and ended up breaking school athletics records.NCAA
Nagel competed at the 2010 [World Junior Championships in Athletics|2010 World Athletics Junior Championships], and in the American college system for Providence College in Rhode Island, where she was co-captain of the cross-country team which won the NCAA title, but her progress was halted by significant illnes, injuries and surgery. She later returned to New Zealand and joined the athletes coached by Paul Hamblyn. Laura Nagel is a 5-time All-American distance runner, 3-time Big East Conference champion, 7-time All-Big East Conference medalist, and IC4A/ECAC Champion.Career
In 2022, she set new personal best times in the 1500 metres, mile run and 3000 metres.Nagel won the 2023 New Zealand Athletics Championships title over 1500 metres and 5000 metres in Wellington in March 2023.
Nagel won the senior women’s road mile championship in a national record time of 4:46.78 at the Novotel Lakefront Mile in Rotorua in May 2024. That month, she also won the New Zealand 5km Road Championships. She won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 2024 Oceania Athletics Championships in Suva, Fiji, in June 2024.
Nagel won New Zealand national titles over 1500 metres and 5000 metres in 2025. In March 2025, she was named in the New Zealand team for the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing.