Marcus Ellis

Early life and education

Marcus Ellis, the youngest son of Sheila and John Ellis, was born on 14 September 1989 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. He has an elder brother James. Ellis started playing badminton aged seven when he father took him to the Colne Valley Leisure Centre in Slaithwaite.

Ellis was first educated at Clough Head Junior School in Hudderfield, before attending Colne Valley High School, a state comprehensive school in the village of Linthwaite. He attended high school with Alex Smithies, now the goalkeeper for Huddersfield Town Football Club. He then studied for 6 months at Huddersfield New College before deciding to move away from Huddersfield at the age of 17 so he may train at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes.

Career

In the early years of his professional career, Ellis teamed up with a number of players in the doubles, such as Tom Wolfenden and Peter Mills. He won the men's doubles at the Denmark International in 2013 with Paul van Rietvelde.

In September 2014, he teamed up with Chris Langridge. They won their first men's doubles title in December 2014 in the Italian Open, and their first title in the English National Badminton Championships in February 2015, which they won again in 2016. They also won the Welsh International in 2015. They were defeated in the 2016 European Championships in La Roche-sur-Yon in the semi-finals to gain a bronze. They have also won medals in the European Team Championships – a silver in the Mixed Team in 2015, and a bronze medal in the Men's Team in 2016.

During the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Ellis and Langridge were ranked No. 22 in the world, but they managed to win a bronze, the first medal in badminton men's doubles won by a British team in the Olympics.