Latest news with #EuropeanUnder-20
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fitzgerald aims for Tokyo after breaking Budd's record
Innes Fitzgerald says she is aiming to make the Great Britain team for the World Athletics Championships after breaking the European Under-20 5,000m record. The 19-year-old from Exeter posted a time of 14:39.56 at the London Diamond League meeting on Saturday, breaking Zola Budd's mark by more than eight-and-a-half seconds that had stood for 40 years. The run put her fifth on the UK all-time list and is good enough to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo next month. The two-time European Under-20 cross country champion will be selected if she finishes in the top two at the upcoming British Championships and could still get a discretionary selection if she were not to make the top two. "I'm going to go out there and just run to get in those top two spots," Fitzgerald told BBC Spotlight. "I don't want to push it too early and then find that I lose out because I've pushed it too early or blown up a bit. "Just trying to get in those top two spots I think that's the main thing, second wouldn't be a bad run, but obviously I'd love to win and having a British title to my name would be amazing." With the Olympic Games in Los Angeles still three years away there is still plenty of time for Fitzgerald to improve. Under the guidance of former Great Britain runner Jo Pavey and her husband Gavin, Fitzgerald has gradually moved up the ranks over the past few years. She is currently the second-fastest British woman over 5,000m this year behind reigning UK champion Hannah Nuttall and her latest personal best has pushed her to 33rd in the world. "I think the sky's the limit in terms of what we're doing," the sports science student at Exeter University says. "It's nice to see the improvements - on Saturday at the Diamond League it was great to get the time. "We kind of went into the season with not too much expectation. We knew I could run well and getting that world qualifying time was the main aim. "If I came away from the race having put everything in and still not coming out with the time, that wasn't necessarily a bad run, it would have still probably been a PB. "It's a privilege to be put up there with some of those best in the world, and especially Zola Budd who ran extremely well 40 years ago, it just shows how things take time to move on and it's nice to kind of put my name against hers." 'I wish it wasn't in Japan' But should Fitzgerald be selected for Tokyo later this summer it will come with mixed feelings. An ardent climate change campaigner she was named Young Athlete of the Year in the 2023 BBC Green Sports Awards after she declined the chance to compete in that year's World Cross County Championships in Australia due to the environmental impact her flight around the world would have. But she says he has reconciled the need for her to compete on a global stage with the opportunity to raise environmental concerns. "I hate flying and that's kind of the end of it, but sometimes there are decisions you've got to make and competitions you've got to go to," she said. "Ultimately if I go and do well it will help to raise my platform anyway and I can then speak to a broader audience about the things I care about and the issues about the climate. "I wish it wasn't in Japan, as much as it's amazing to go to a World Championships, you've always got to have that in the back of your mind and as long as you're conscious and still talking about things I think it's okay. "No one can ever be perfect and I think when I didn't fly to Australia it was a big move and actually the media that came off the back of that helped to amplify the story. "Whereas I think now I've got a bit of a platform just talking about it when I do go and saying 'look we don't want to be doing this but we have to' I think it's important."
BBC News
6 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Fitzgerald aims for Tokyo after breaking Budd's record
Innes Fitzgerald says she is aiming to make the Great Britain team for the World Athletics Championships after breaking the European Under-20 5,000m 19-year-old from Exeter posted a time of 14:39.56 at the London Diamond League meeting on Saturday, breaking Zola Budd's mark by more than eight-and-a-half seconds that had stood for 40 years. The run put her fifth on the UK all-time list and is good enough to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo next month. The two-time European Under-20 cross country champion will be selected if she finishes in the top two at the upcoming British Championships and could still get a discretionary selection if she were not to make the top two. "I'm going to go out there and just run to get in those top two spots," Fitzgerald told BBC Spotlight. "I don't want to push it too early and then find that I lose out because I've pushed it too early or blown up a bit."Just trying to get in those top two spots I think that's the main thing, second wouldn't be a bad run, but obviously I'd love to win and having a British title to my name would be amazing." With the Olympic Games in Los Angeles still three years away there is still plenty of time for Fitzgerald to the guidance of former Great Britain runner Jo Pavey and her husband Gavin, Fitzgerald has gradually moved up the ranks over the past few is currently the second-fastest British woman over 5,000m this year behind reigning UK champion Hannah Nuttall and her latest personal best has pushed her to 33rd in the world. "I think the sky's the limit in terms of what we're doing," the sports science student at Exeter University says."It's nice to see the improvements - on Saturday at the Diamond League it was great to get the time."We kind of went into the season with not too much expectation. We knew I could run well and getting that world qualifying time was the main aim."If I came away from the race having put everything in and still not coming out with the time, that wasn't necessarily a bad run, it would have still probably been a PB."It's a privilege to be put up there with some of those best in the world, and especially Zola Budd who ran extremely well 40 years ago, it just shows how things take time to move on and it's nice to kind of put my name against hers." 'I wish it wasn't in Japan' But should Fitzgerald be selected for Tokyo later this summer it will come with mixed feelings. An ardent climate change campaigner she was named Young Athlete of the Year in the 2023 BBC Green Sports Awards after she declined the chance to compete in that year's World Cross County Championships in Australia due to the environmental impact her flight around the world would have. But she says he has reconciled the need for her to compete on a global stage with the opportunity to raise environmental concerns."I hate flying and that's kind of the end of it, but sometimes there are decisions you've got to make and competitions you've got to go to," she said."Ultimately if I go and do well it will help to raise my platform anyway and I can then speak to a broader audience about the things I care about and the issues about the climate."I wish it wasn't in Japan, as much as it's amazing to go to a World Championships, you've always got to have that in the back of your mind and as long as you're conscious and still talking about things I think it's okay."No one can ever be perfect and I think when I didn't fly to Australia it was a big move and actually the media that came off the back of that helped to amplify the story."Whereas I think now I've got a bit of a platform just talking about it when I do go and saying 'look we don't want to be doing this but we have to' I think it's important."
Irish Times
7 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Kate O'Connor smashes Irish heptathlon record to strike gold at World University Games
Another groundbreaking display by Kate O'Connor has won her the heptathlon gold medal at the World University Games in the Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. The 24-year-old was in superb form in all seven events, smashing her own national record on her way to claiming a first multi-event medal for Ireland in the championships. Already 373 points clear going into the final event, O'Connor saved one of her best performances for last, finishing second in the 800m with a personal best of 2:10.46 to bring her points tally to 6487. That significantly improved on her previous record of 6297 set in 2021, this being her first heptathlon competition since twice breaking new ground in the indoor five-event pentathlon. Earlier this year O'Connor took bronze in the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn and followed up with silver in the event at the World indoor stage in Nanjing, China. READ MORE Relishing the competition once again, the Dundalk woman set the pace on both days. Hungary's Szabina Szucs claimed the silver medal with 6081 points while Australia's Emilia Surch took bronze with 6068 points, both also personal bests among the 29 competitors. Ireland's Kate O'Connor during the javelin event in the heptathlon at the World University Games in Bochum, Germany. Photograph: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile While gold medals have previously been won by Ireland in swimming and golf, this was only the fifth athletics gold won by an Irish athlete since World University Games were officially inaugurated in 1959. Ronnie Delany won gold over 800m in 1961, Niall Bruton and Sonia O'Sullivan over 1500m in 1991, and Thomas Barr in the 400m hurdles in 2015. After setting a personal best of 24.33 seconds in the 200m on Wednesday, O'Connor threw 51.87m in round one of the javelin on Thursday and cleared 6.15m in round one of the long jump. Only a collapse in the 800m would have denied her gold, and instead she made absolutely sure of it, improving her previous best of 2:11.42. An MA student in Communications and PR at Ulster University, O'Connor's indoor medals were the first senior medals won by any Irish athlete in a multi-event. She had already made a breakthrough in the women's heptathlon in winning European Under-20 silver in 2019 before becoming Ireland's first representative in the heptathlon at last year's Paris Olympics. The switch from the pentathlon – five events indoors spread across one day – to the heptathlon – seven events outdoors spread across two days – involved the addition of the 200m and the javelin, the latter being O'Connor's favourite event. Her next heptathlon will be the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.
BBC News
03-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'I sat in my room, staring at my Xbox' - Griggs running again after illness
"I'm 20 years old, a professional athlete, should be in the prime of my life and I can't even put my socks on."Nick Griggs recalls a period he admits frightened him, but one he is emerging from after resuming running over the last fortnight. It will be some weeks, however, before he is able to do a full training last time most of us saw the precocious Tyrone talent, he was running his way on 8 December to a brilliant silver medal in the under-23 race at the European Cross Championships in the best medical guess is that the knee infection which soon was preventing the Ireland athlete from even bending his right leg began that very day in Turkey after he was pushed to the ground on a congested who burst into Irish athletics consciousness in 2021 by winning the European Under-20 3,000m title as a 16-year-old, describes his subsequent torment by mid-January when the pain was such that he had to ask his father to drive him from their home in Newmills to Belfast and back so that he could get yet another scan."I feel like I'm a tough person mentally but it has been challenging. The worst bit was when it did get better and I thinking 'class, I'm getting better' to literally that Tuesday night where I couldn't drive myself to my scan and my dad had to drive me," Griggs told BBC Sport NI of that particularly difficult day."I just sat in my room, staring at my Xbox. It had been almost three or four weeks since I had been able to do any training and it had just gotten worse. I was thinking 'what the hell is wrong with me? I'm in pain sitting here and I can't bend my leg'." 'It felt like it was in the bone' Now that he's coming out the other side of a "pretty grim" period, with him set to join his regular training partners in coach Mark Kirk's group of athletes travelling to the Pyrenees next week, Griggs is able to look back at what happened in Antalya."The gun went and I took one or two steps and I was feeling two hands on my shoulders which literally pushed me to the floor," added the Tyrone man, who was up near the front because his previous medal exploits at the event meant he was among the elite performers being introduced to the spectators."I got up and kept running and finished [second] and then about an hour later, I was in my cool down (run) and I said to Callum [Morgan] my team-mate and regular training partner, 'my knee is really, really sore. I don't know what that is'. "It felt like it was in the bone...I remember thinking that to myself."But there was a medal ceremony to do and he wasn't the only Irish athlete who limped his way back to the hotel with Cormac Dixon having got spiked."A few people said you got spiked. It might swell up a bit but in a week you'll be fine."I kept training for probably three weeks. Three full training weeks of probably 85 to 90 miles or whatever I was doing at the time but it just got to a point where I literally couldn't run any more." Amid scans which didn't diagnose why there was a fluid build-up in Griggs' right knee, ice and compression treatment at the Sport Institute of Northern Ireland did initially appear to work in the first half of a sudden deterioration soon left the middle-distance athlete effectively back at square one."The fluid had meant the range of movement was gone, I couldn't run, couldn't cycle, couldn't do anything but this time it was actually different where I could wake up in the middle of the night and it would be throbbing in pain."After yet another scan on the afternoon before Storm Eowyn wreaked havoc, with osteomyelitis, a bone infection, by now having been diagnosed, medics told Griggs he was going to require twice-daily doses of intravenous antibiotics during a two-week hospital stay, followed by a further month of oral medication."It wasn't an injury, more like a chronic illness. By the time I got into hospital, I couldn't wait to get in there because it was so sore. I would get up in the morning and even putting my foot down would be sore," added the Tyrone man, who clocked huge 3,000m and 5,000m personal bests last summer in addition to bettering his 1500m time. "I had osteomyelitis. Mine was in the knee cap. It hadn't spread to the joint or the femur or anywhere else and I got quite lucky that it was quite localised. "If it spreads to the joint, you could be in serious trouble – you wouldn't have to get your leg amputated – but the knee might never be the same again."The freakish nature of what afflicted the runner is emphasised by his physio and strength and conditioning coach, in conjunction with the medics who looked after Griggs, now planning to a do a research paper on his case as there is no previous literature on this type of ailment in the sport of athletics. Running 25 miles this week After being discharged from Belfast's Musgrave Park Hospital on 14 February, Griggs wasn't allowed to do any running for a month with his return to exercise restricted to gentle cycling and walking."It was just spinning the legs. I wasn't allowed to get my heart rate up because that could have caused the infection to spread again."For the last two weeks that I was still on antibiotics, I was cycling but doing it five times a week and walking the other days and for the last five minutes, I was allowed to get my heart rate up to 140 which is like an easy run pace."The three-time European Cross Country individual medallist was able to resume running just over a fortnight ago and this week is up to a regime of 25 miles, which will be gradually increased if all goes to plan."I did 50 minutes yesterday and I'll do 55 minutes tomorrow. I'm running every other day at the moment so I'm doing four days this week and I'm still got the cycling," said Griggs on Wednesday."You feel like you're working again and being productive and building fitness. Obviously there's a long way to go but I'm getting there." Griggs has returned to social media in recent days and is grateful for the messages of support he has been receiving, which he hopes to get round to answering."You just don't want to go on Instagram when you're lying in a hospital bed with a tube in your arm. "Mentally for me, removing myself from social media was easier than to force myself to look at and see people running fast times."In those days, it made more sense for him to fall back on the support of parents Andy and Royanne, his immediate friends as well as his coaches and training partners."My family and friends who were there to support me and all the team, the coach, physio, S&C coach, the doctors who were involved and everyone in the NHS who attended to me were all unbelievable. Without all of them, who knows what would have happened."After missing out on the indoor season, Griggs is optimistic he will have a summer outdoor campaign, with the staging of the World Championships in September giving him additional catch-up time. "We're still trying to make the World Championships but right now, it's just about trying not to even think about that."So much can change in a day or two or a week or two which I've learned the hard way over the past few months."Getting up to those 90-mile weeks, who knows when that could be. It could be in mid-May or June. You don't know what's going to happen."
