The teenager broke the European under-20 indoor 3000m record, but the time will not be officially confirmed as it was in the mixed race.
Innes Fitzgerald started his 2025 campaign in some style after clocking 8:48.30 for the indoor 3000m at the British Milers Club meeting in Cardiff (January 12).
The British teenager smashed her personal best by 15 seconds (her previous time was 9:04.87) and surpassed the European under-20 record of 8:49.65 set by Azerbaijan’s Leyes Abdullayeva in 2010.
As a result, Fitzgerald also went faster than Zola Budd’s British junior indoor record of 8:56.13 from 1985.
However, Fitzgerald’s run cannot be certified as an official European or British junior record as it took place in a mixed race.
Innes Fitzgerald (Getty)
The 18-year-old retained her title at the European Under-20 Championships last month, finishing 11 seconds ahead of compatriot Jess Bailey in Turkey.
“There was definitely a lot of pressure on me and I was feeling a lot of nerves earlier, but if anything it gave me a lot of fuel to push through and try and enjoy it.” Fitzgerald said AW: after winning.
Last season, the teenager was fourth in the 3000m at the World Under-20 Championships in Peru in 8:57.01.
Innes Fitzgerald (England Athletics/Pat Skaasi)
It puts her fifth on the all-time Great Britain Under-20 3000m list, with only Budd, Steph Twell, Paula Radcliffe and Emelia Gorecka going faster in the age category.
Fitzgerald was also part of the Great Britain team at last year’s World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade.
If she can record 8:48 or lower in the indoor 3000m, qualifying for the European Cross-Country Championships in March is not out of the question.
Fitzgerald, who won the British under-17 women’s 3000m record in 2022 in 8:59.67, is coached by Gavin Pavin in Devon and is enjoying life as a freshman at Exeter University.
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