British teenager clocks 8:40.05 in Ostrava to beat Sofia Thøgersen’s mark by 10 seconds
Innes FitzGerald’s team-mates at Exeter University will have missed her presence at last weekend’s British Universities Cross Country Championships in Cardiff. But the 18-year-old’s decision to race indoors in Ostrava instead paid off as she demolished her own PB and set a European under-20 women’s record of 8:40.05.
Racing at the Czech Indoor Gala on Tuesday (Feb 4), FitzGerald took down Sofia Thøgersen’s mark of 8:50.26 and also sliced 16 seconds off Zola Budd’s British indoor under-20 record of 8:56.13 set by the barefoot runner when winning an international match at Cosford 40 years ago.
FitzGerald
FitzGerald first made her mark in the summer of 2022 when, as a relative novice, she smashed the UK under-17 women’s 3000m record with 8:59.67 to win the SIAB Schools International.
She struggled to improve that mark for a while but showed her ability on the country when winning two European under-20 titles and several national crowns on the mud. What’s more, last summer she finished a fine fourth in the 3000m at the World Under-20 Championships in Lima behind three East Africans.
Under the guidance of coach Gavin Pavey, she improved her 3000m best to 8:48.30 when winning a mixed-sex race by 22 seconds in Cardiff last month and has now taken a further eight seconds off that time this week.
It caps a great few days for British athletes over 3000m with Melissa Courtney-Bryant winning in style at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston in 8:28.69 and George Mills breaking Josh Kerr’s UK record with 7:27.92 in France.
Finally, people are now talking more about FitzGerald’s performances rather than her much-publicized reluctance to travel by air due to environmental reasons.
The Ostrava race was won by Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu in 8:24.17 as FitzGerald battled behind into fourth place, clocking kilometer splits of 2:55.8, 2:54.2, and 2:50.0.
As a measure of FitzGerald’s ability, Budd’s 8:56.13 performance in 1985 was a UK and Commonwealth indoor record at the time. Budd, who was 18 at the time, won the world cross-country senior women’s title in Lisbon a few weeks later – 23 seconds ahead of Ingrid Kristiansen, who in turn went on to win the London Marathon the following month in 2:21:06.
The 11-second margin over her rivals wasn’t as big as the 19 seconds she put between herself and the field in Brussels 12 months ago, but it was an equally impressive triumph.
Türkiye’s recently crowned Balkan U20 champion Edibe Yagiz was to the fore early in the race, towing the field through much of the first kilometer before fading to 14th by the finish.
However, on the home runner’s shoulder was FitzGerald, her British compatriot Jess Bailey, and Germany’s 2024 European U20 mountain running champion Julia Ehrl,e and this trio was away on their own by two kilometers into the race, with France’s 2023 bronze medallist Jade Le Corre just behind them.
With just under two kilometers to go, FitzGerald produced her decisive move and pulled clear of her two rivals.
At the bell, FitzGerald had a two-second advantage over Bailey but a superb last lap saw her gradually increase the lead to come home around 70 meters in front of her teammate at 15:47.
FitzGerald is still young enough to be eligible to run in the U20 race next year in Portugal when she could bid to equal the record of fellow Briton Stephanie Twell, who won the U20 title three times between 2006-08.
Nevertheless, it was an outstanding run from Bailey, who crossed the line for silver in 15:58.
Bailey finished eighth last year and had finished 31 seconds adrift of FitzGerald the last time they met, which was at the British trials for Antalya last month.
Behind the British pair, there was drama in the battle for the bronze as the 2023 silver medallist Sofia Thøgersen, a 4:05.34 1500m runner, clawed back a 12-second deficit at the bell to just edge in front of Ehrle on the line, with both runners being given the same time 16:03.
Great Britain’s third scorer Eleanor Stevens came home sixth to secure a comfortable victory in the team competition with just nine points, winning in the category for the seventh time in the last 10 years and the 15th time in the last 20 years.
France, led home by Le Corre in fifth, took the silver medals with 39 points with Italy third with 44 points.
The 11-second margin over her rivals wasn’t as big as the 19 seconds she put between herself and the field in Brussels 12 months ago, but it was an equally impressive triumph.
Türkiye’s recently crowned Balkan U20 champion Edibe Yagiz was to the fore early in the race, towing the field through much of the first kilometer before fading to 14th by the finish.
However, on the home runner’s shoulder was FitzGerald, her British compatriot Jess Bailey, and Germany’s 2024 European U20 mountain running champion Julia Ehrle, and this trio was away on their own by two kilometers into the race, with France’s 2023 bronze medallist Jade Le Corre just behind them.
With just under two kilometers to go, FitzGerald produced her decisive move and pulled clear of her two rivals.
At the bell, FitzGerald had a two-second advantage over Bailey but a superb last lap saw her gradually increase the lead to come home around 70 meters in front of her teammate at 15:47.
FitzGerald is still young enough to be eligible to run in the U20 race next year in Portugal when she could bid to equal the record of fellow Briton Stephanie Twell, who won the U20 title three times between 2006-08.
Nevertheless, it was an outstanding run from Bailey, who crossed the line for silver in 15:58.
Bailey finished eighth last year and had finished 31 seconds adrift of FitzGerald the last time they met, which was at the British trials for Antalya last month.
Behind the British pair, there was drama in the battle for the bronze as the 2023 silver medallist Sofia Thøgersen, a 4:05.34 1500m runner, clawed back a 12-second deficit at the bell to just edge in front of Ehrle on the line, with both runners being given the same time 16:03.
Great Britain’s third scorer Eleanor Stevens came home sixth to secure a comfortable victory in the team competition with just nine points, winning in the category for the seventh time in the last 10 years and the 15th time in the last 20 years.
France, led home by Le Corre in fifth, took the silver medals with 39 points with Italy third with 44 points.
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