Downie made her senior debut at the 2015 British Championships. She won silver on vault and uneven bars and bronze in the all-around competition, and was named to the British team for the 2015 European Championships along with her sister, Becky Downie. She performed well in qualifications at the European Championships, qualifying for the individual all-around, vault and uneven bars finals. On 17 April, she competed in the all-around final and placed third, behind Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland and Maria Kharenkova of Russia, with a score of 56.623, winning the first ever individual all-around medal for a British female gymnast at the European Championships. Downie was the Sky Sports Sportswoman of the Month for April 2015. On 20 December, she was named the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.
In qualifications at the Olympics, Downie landed on her head during a tumbling pass on floor and was unable to finish her routine. However, she returned in the next rotation, performing two vaults, and qualified to the all-around final in 20th place. She improved on that performance in the final, finishing 13th, and the British women finished fifth in the team competition.
2017
In April 2017, Downie represented Great Britain at the 2017 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where she made history by qualifying for all five individual finals. The next day, she became the first British gymnast to win the all-around title at a major international competition, beating Hungary's Zsófia Kovács and France's Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos. She also won silver medals on vault and floor, and a bronze medal on the uneven bars. At the beginning of August she underwent an ankle surgery due to an injury she had dealt with at both the British Championships and European Championships that year. The surgery means that she will not be able to attend the 2017 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, stating on her instagram account that she plans on her next major international competition to be the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Downie was selected to compete at the 2019 European Championships alongside Amelie Morgan, Alice Kinsella, and Kelly Simm. She competed at the British Championships where she placed first in the all-around, on vault, and on floor exercise. She later competed at the Birmingham World Cup where she placed seventh after falling off the balance beam and uneven bars. At the European Championships Downie qualified to the all-around final in fourth place and to the vault final in first. In the all-around final Downie finished second behind Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos of France. She won bronze in the vault final behind 2015 vault championMaria Paseka and 2017 vault championColine Devillard. In September Downie was named to the team to compete at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart alongside Alice Kinsella, Becky Downie, Taeja James, and Georgia-Mae Fenton. During qualifications Downie helped Great Britain place seventh, earning a spot in the team final and qualifying a team for Great Britain to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Individually Downie qualified for the vault final. During the team final she contributed scores on vault and uneven bars towards Great Britain's sixth place finish. In the vault final Downie performed a Double-Twisting Yurchenko and a Cheng, earning an average score of 14.816 and winning the bronze medal behind Americans Simone Biles and Jade Carey. This was Downie's first individual World Championships medal. Later that day Downie's sister Becky won her first individual World Championships medal, a silver medal on the uneven bars.
2020
In early February it was announced that Downie was selected to represent Great Britain at the Birmingham World Cup taking place in late March. However the Birmingham World Cup was later canceled due to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak in the United Kingdom.
Personal life
Ellie is the sister of 2008 and 2016 Olympian Becky Downie. She attended the Rushcliffe School in Nottingham until the summer of 2015.
