IRELAND’S FIONNUALA MCCORMACK produced her best-ever performance on the global stage to finish ninth in the Women’s Marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
The five-time Olympian clocked 2:30.16 in searing heat and humidity.
McCormack, who turns 41 later this month, gradually pushed up through the field in an impressive run to record her highest-ever finish at a global major championships.
What a run! 🔥
Fionnuala McCormack (Kilcoole AC) storms to a 9th place finish at the Women’s Marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo 👏
The Kilcoole AC star said she was “pleasantly surprised” afterwards.
“I didn’t realise until [RTÉ reporter] David Gillick told me that I had came ninth,” McCormack told Athletics Ireland.
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“It’s nice to get into the top 10. Obviously now, I’m thinking, ‘Could I have been a few places higher?’ But no, I picked off as many people as I could and everyone who I could see in front of me, I think I caught. There wasn’t a whole lot more I could do out there today. ”
Having made her World Championship debut in Osaka in 2007, finishing 12th the the Steeplechase final, the mother of three added: “Usually I feel like I have to come back again to redeem myself, but this time I don’t really feel like that.”
Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir produced a lung-busting final 100m sprint to win a dramatic marathon.
In the sole final of the second morning session at the National Stadium, Jepchirchir edged Ethiopa’s Tigst Assefa for gold by just two seconds after an epic tussle.
The pair were neck-and-neck coming into the final kilometre of a gruelling marathon run in hot and humid weather.
Former world record holder Assefa chanced her arm as she bolted down the back straight. But Jepchirchir dug deep to battle back past her stuttering Ethiopian rival for a breathless gold.
Jepchirchir, Olympic champion at the same venue in the Covid-delayed 2021 Olympics, timed 2:24.43 for victory.
“It was not my ultimate plan to sprint in the final metres, but when I saw I was 100m from the finish, I just started to kick. I found some hidden energy there,” said Jepchirchir.
“I wasn’t expecting it to go like that,” McCormack added. “It went off harder than I thought it would. I thought conditions would be tougher.
“Maybe I held back a little bit, but I didn’t really hold back that much. People did die in the second half, I probably ran it right but you always want more!”
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Fionnuala McCormack finishes ninth in dramatic marathon at World Athletics Championships
IRELAND’S FIONNUALA MCCORMACK produced her best-ever performance on the global stage to finish ninth in the Women’s Marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
The five-time Olympian clocked 2:30.16 in searing heat and humidity.
McCormack, who turns 41 later this month, gradually pushed up through the field in an impressive run to record her highest-ever finish at a global major championships.
The Kilcoole AC star said she was “pleasantly surprised” afterwards.
“I didn’t realise until [RTÉ reporter] David Gillick told me that I had came ninth,” McCormack told Athletics Ireland.
“It’s nice to get into the top 10. Obviously now, I’m thinking, ‘Could I have been a few places higher?’ But no, I picked off as many people as I could and everyone who I could see in front of me, I think I caught. There wasn’t a whole lot more I could do out there today. ”
Having made her World Championship debut in Osaka in 2007, finishing 12th the the Steeplechase final, the mother of three added: “Usually I feel like I have to come back again to redeem myself, but this time I don’t really feel like that.”
Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir produced a lung-busting final 100m sprint to win a dramatic marathon.
In the sole final of the second morning session at the National Stadium, Jepchirchir edged Ethiopa’s Tigst Assefa for gold by just two seconds after an epic tussle.
The pair were neck-and-neck coming into the final kilometre of a gruelling marathon run in hot and humid weather.
Former world record holder Assefa chanced her arm as she bolted down the back straight. But Jepchirchir dug deep to battle back past her stuttering Ethiopian rival for a breathless gold.
Jepchirchir, Olympic champion at the same venue in the Covid-delayed 2021 Olympics, timed 2:24.43 for victory.
“It was not my ultimate plan to sprint in the final metres, but when I saw I was 100m from the finish, I just started to kick. I found some hidden energy there,” said Jepchirchir.
“I wasn’t expecting it to go like that,” McCormack added. “It went off harder than I thought it would. I thought conditions would be tougher.
“Maybe I held back a little bit, but I didn’t really hold back that much. People did die in the second half, I probably ran it right but you always want more!”
Nicola Tuthill (Hammer Throw), Sarah Lavin (1oom Hurdles) and Andrew Coscoran (1500m) also advanced in a successful overnight showing from Team Ireland.
- With reporting from – © AFP 2025
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