Innes FitzGerald enjoys runaway 5000m victory at European U20 Champs

British runner is aiming to seal a golden double in Tampere this week when she tackles the 3000m

Innes FitzGerald destroyed the best junior female distance runners in Europe on Thursday (Aug 7) when she clocked 15:09.04 to win gold in Tampere.

Racing on a damp first day of the European Under-20 Championships in the Finnish city, FitzGerald went straight to the front and went on to win by more than half a minute as Edibe Yagiz of Turkey ran 15:43.60 in second and Julia Ehrle 15:44.06 in third. In fifth, FitzGerald’s GB team-mate Freya Bradley clocked a PB of 15:55.50.

After running a European under-20 record of 14:39.56 at the Diamond League in London last month, FitzGerald was a big favourite.

With the 3000m still to come later in the championships, she could have chosen to take it easy during the early laps. But perhaps with one eye on Agate Caune’s championship record of 15:03.85, FitzGerald went straight into the lead in trademark style.

The two-time European cross-country champion is enjoying a brilliant season and she went through 1000m in 3:07.1 and 3000m in 9:11.00 before cruising home in what was the first final of the championships in Tampere.

It is just over three years since FitzGerald started training seriously under the guidance of coach Gavin Pavey in Exeter, south-west England.

She won the English Schools and SIAB Schools International 3000m titles that summer, the latter in a UK under-17 record of 8:59.67. But since then she has gone from strength to strength with her 5000m run in London recently smashing Zola Budd’s long-standing British junior record.

In Tampere she runs in the 3000m heats on Friday (Aug 8) with the final on Sunday (Aug 10).