Latest news with #InnesFitzGerald
New York Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Meet Innes FitzGerald, the ‘Greta Thunberg of sport' who is determined to make a difference
Innes FitzGerald is a runner in a hurry. The Briton only turned 19 in April but has already stepped up impressively to senior competition. She recorded a personal best in finishing third in the 3,000 metres on her Diamond League debut in Stockholm earlier this month and followed it up with another PB in the 5,000m in the same series' London event last Saturday. Advertisement In achieving the latter, she smashed compatriot Zola Budd's 40-year-old record by more than eight seconds to become the fastest European under-20 woman of all time over that distance, and the 14th-fastest under-20 in the world. Yet that progress has come at a cost. FitzGerald was dubbed the 'Greta Thunberg of sport' after she declined the opportunity to compete in the Junior World Cross Country Championships in Australia three years ago on environmental grounds — she did not want to take the long-haul plane journeys there and back. In the letter she sent to British Athletics explaining the decision, she wrote: 'I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes and loved ones as a result.' Those comparisons to Thunberg, the 22-year-old Swedish activist who captured the world's attention with her school strike for climate protests as a teenager, might not always have been designed as a compliment, but FitzGerald embraces them. 'It's definitely a compliment,' she tells The Athletic. 'The way Greta mobilised so many students is incredible. She had such a powerful voice. It's a privilege to have anything about me related to her in some way. I don't think I'm quite at her level, but I'd like to think that I can create a change within sport, as she did with students across the world. 'To turn down a GB vest is never easy, but at the time, it was the right decision for me. I wanted to show that I cared, and if I'd gone there and said, 'I didn't want to have to fly, it wasn't a good thing to have to do', people wouldn't have looked at it in the same way as not going at all. 'Although I'm having to fly to championships (these days) despite not wanting to, people now know that. Sometimes I just don't share the same excitement as other people because I just feel a weight on my shoulders that I'm harming the environment and ultimately affecting other people.' FitzGerald has frequently attended protests by environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion, was part of a 60,000-strong crowd in Westminster's Parliament Square for a four-day demonstration referred to as 'the Big One' in April 2023, and also hopes to persuade athletics governing bodies to make changes. She speaks about 'dreading' flying and of her 'immense guilt when on the plane'. Advertisement Perhaps that is no surprise, given she grew up in the Devon countryside, living with her family on a farm near Exeter in the south-west of England. 'That connection with nature has always been there,' she says. These deeply-held beliefs around the climate crisis stem from that rural upbringing, but also a fascination with the scientific facts related to it. 'I'm really interested in learning about science,' she says. 'That motivation to learn about things has helped grow my knowledge and to realise the impacts of our human actions on the environment.' FitzGerald is studying for an undergraduate degree in exercise and sports science, which, she says, has helped with her burgeoning athletics career. Yet, while many start at an early age, she is a late bloomer, only taking up the sport in secondary school at age 16. 'That was good for me. If I pushed it at a young age, I don't think I'd have the same love for the sport as I do now,' she says. 'I started doing schools' cross-country and running a bit during Covid because I was bored.' She eventually made her way to the Exeter Harriers athletics club, where her potential has been keenly nurtured by coach Gavin Pavey and his wife, Jo, a five-time Olympic athlete who won European Championship gold at 10,000m in 2014. Yet FitzGerald laughs at how her parents almost discouraged her initially from taking up running, as they would have preferred her to do something closer to home. 'They're very uncompetitive people, which is kind of crazy considering I'm so competitive,' she says. 'But it's good that they've never pushed me at all. The drive to do something has always come from within.' It wasn't until after the race in London that FitzGerald became aware that her 5,000m time of 14:39:56 had eclipsed Budd's time of 14:48:07 from 1985, or that she had beaten Pavey's personal best of 14:39:96, set in 2006. Yet she has stayed humble, pointing out her time was achieved wearing the 'super shoes' which have helped shred the record books in recent years. 'I've got to get a little bit quicker for it (Pavey's PB) to be properly beaten,' she adds. Advertisement Those personal milestones do not seem to motivate her anyway — FitzGerald insists she isn't going to 'chase times', despite being four seconds off Budd's 'insane' British under-20 record for 3,000m of 8:28:83. Instead, she wants to work on the tactical side of racing, describing her previous 'naivety' in terms of starting races too quickly. FitzGerald now often gradually makes her way up from a position towards the back of the pack. Despite saying she 'quite often lacks a bit of confidence', FitzGerald has lofty ambitions while insisting her priority will always remain about enjoying her sport. 'Hopefully, I will go to more major championships and fight for medals. I want a global medal, whether that be at the Olympics or the World Championships. Even when I get there, I'm not going to stop. I feel like some people can be like, 'OK, I've been, that was fine'. I want to continue this career as long as I can.' Her environmental awareness perhaps helps keep athletics in perspective. Despite feeling 'hopeless' about the former at times, she presents a message of optimism based on the collective public action that sport can galvanise. 'Everyone's ingrained into flying everywhere,' she says. 'They don't really consider other options. I'd like the governing bodies and decision-makers to think more broadly. We don't have to fly everywhere, there are other options, and sometimes they are easier. When we went out to Brussels (in Belgium) for the European Cross-Country Championships, everyone flew. We could have taken the Eurostar (train from London) — it takes about the same amount of time, if not less. 'I have a platform for people who want to follow along with the sport. So if I can talk a bit about the climate crisis and my concerns there, it helps remind people that as sportspeople we do care as well and we're not just going along with this system as it is or that we're happy with it.' FitzGerald begrudgingly accepts the unwelcome trade-off with her chosen career, but views it also as an opportunity to enact change. The more success she has on the track and the cross-country trails, the greater the chance of being able to influence others to join her cause. 'We have big platforms, and it's really important to talk about the things we care about,' she says. 'I don't want to shy away from talking and, ultimately, it (the climate crisis) shouldn't be a controversial topic. Advertisement 'If high-profile athletes come together and say, 'This is what we want to happen', then, as long as it's realistic, I don't see why we can't make a change in the sport.' 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Telegraph
06-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Meet the Greta Thunberg of UK Athletics – who attends Extinction Rebellion rallies
When Innes FitzGerald emerged two winters ago as the outstanding young British distance runner of her generation, it was not long before she became even more widely known as the 'Greta Thunberg of sport'. She had performed magnificently to finish fourth in the Under-20 European Cross Country Championships in Italy – aged just 16 – following a 20-hour coach and train journey from Devon to Turin that involved even cycling across Paris on a fold-up bike to make a rail connection. She then promptly turned down the chance to travel to Australia for the 2023 World Cross Country Championships. 'I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes and loves ones as a result,' she wrote in an open to British Athletics. Innes FitzGerald enjoys a runaway victory in the U20/17 women's race at the Cardiff Cross Challenge. — AW (@AthleticsWeekly) November 9, 2024 FitzGerald would then follow up winning the London Mini Marathon by joining Extinction Rebellion activists who had gathered in Parliament Square. Now 18, the environmental campaigning continues – and her running has gone from strength to strength – but the realities of pursuing her athletics dream has also prompted some deeply uncomfortable choices. She will make her senior international debut at the European Indoor Championship in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands this week, where she has travelled with the rest of a near 50-strong British team by air. 'Unfortunately, this time, I haven't managed to sort it out logistically – it's been quite complicated,' she explains. 'I've been very busy with uni stuff and other different family issues. I do feel like I should be getting the train there, and that's definitely something I'm going to be doing in the future. 'For me, it's quite gutting that the whole team aren't going together on the train, considering it's so close and so easy to do. Even though I might be doing the wrong thing, just still saying that it's wrong is better than just doing it and not saying it's wrong. 'Whenever I'm getting on a flight, it's never easy. I'm always thinking, 'Oh, I shouldn't be doing this', but I know that I've got to go to these championships to fill my dreams as a professional athlete. So it's just about balancing that and trying to do as much as I can in other areas of my life to try and make up for it, and also just speak out.' A winner of the BBC Green Sport Award in 2023, FitzGerald is flattered by the Thunberg comparison. 'I think Greta is very inspirational,' she says. 'She kind of managed to mobilise so many young people. I think it's a compliment to be associated with her. If I can do anything near to what she's done, then I'll be very happy. I strongly believe that we, as athletes, have a responsibility.' After growing up on a farm in Devon, FitzGerald's interest in climate change stemmed from her father and she now tries to make environmentally friendly changes in her life and will look into how she can carbon offset in the future. She has also been talking with a sports-focused group called Champions for Earth, which is trying to organise mass participation running events with a low carbon footprint. 'I feel like I have a responsibility to look after the people who are in the Global South, or directly affected by extreme weather events,' she says. 'We're not, in the UK, affected by it, but I feel the pain they're feeling, and I feel like it's my responsibility in a more privileged position to help them, and raise awareness for the situations they're in as a result of our actions.' Since her running breakthrough two years ago, FitzGerald has dominated the European Under-20 Cross Country Championships with back-to-back wins. She then set a European indoor 3,000 metres age-group record of 8min 40.05sec earlier this year. Her strength and bold front-running style has prompted comparison with Paula Radcliffe. She got into running as part of her sister's Duke of Edinburgh award and then built up to five 20-minute runs a week during the Covid lockdown. FitzGerald was soon then breaking 18 minutes at her local Seaton Parkrun before persuading her dad to start taking her training at Exeter Harriers, where she has since been mentored by Gavin Pavey and his wife Jo, a former European 10,000m champion and the only British athlete to have competed at five Olympic Games. After completing A-Levels last year in biology, physics and maths, FitzGerald is now studying for a degree in sport and exercise science at the University of Exeter. 'I don't like bigging people up too much, but Innes is very good,' says Gavin Pavey. 'We never know what's going to happen in the future, but it looks promising. She's doing things that other young athletes at this stage haven't done. What's good about what we're doing is her [weekly mileage] volumes aren't very high.' FitzGerald is also emphasising a long-term approach. 'I never really thought I'd have this opportunity – I don't think there's too much pressure on me,' she says. 'I just want to go out there, enjoy it, soak it all up, and hopefully get into that final. That's where I believe I belong. Hopefully compete for one of those medals, but just getting close. There's lots more years of my career left. I don't want to jump into anything too soon, because I'll have nowhere to progress to. It's just about building up that mileage and intensity gradually.'
The Guardian
06-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘I wish we'd taken the train': athlete Innes FitzGerald welcomes Thunberg comparisons
Innes FitzGerald is a young athlete on a mission: to win medals for Britain while saving the planet. While most sports stars are media trained to say as little as possible, the 18-year-old from Devon is refreshingly bold in her beliefs – and her determination to make a difference. That much is clear when FitzGerald, who recently broke Zola Budd's national under-20 indoor 3,000m record by a staggering 16 seconds to earn selection for the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, is asked about how she travelled to the Netherlands. It turns out the British squad, which was announced only last week, all flew. 'But I do feel like I should have got the train,' says FitzGerald. 'For me, it's quite gutting that the whole team didn't go together on the train, considering it's so close and so easy to do. 'But I will continue to talk about environmental issues in the future, because it's really important, and I strongly believe that we as athletes have a responsibility.' FitzGerald first made headlines as a 16-year-old when she turned down the chance to compete in the world cross-country championships in Australia because of her concerns for the environment. So how does she feel when she has to fly nowadays? 'It's never easy. I'm always thinking: 'Oh, I shouldn't be doing this.' But I know that I've got to go to these championships to fill my dreams as a professional athlete. So it's just about balancing that, and trying to do as much as I can in other areas of my life to make up for it. 'And even though I might be doing the wrong thing, just still saying that it's wrong is better than just doing it and not saying it's wrong.' FitzGerald, who is in the first year of a sport and exercise science degree at Exeter University, believes politicians should be doing far more to tackle the climate crisis. 'But I also feel like I have a responsibility to those directly affected by extreme weather, and to raise awareness for the situations they are in as a result of our actions,' she says. Her direct action approach has even earned her a sobriquet: 'the Greta Thunberg of sport.' So what does she make of the comparison? 'I think Greta is very inspirational. She has managed to mobilise so many young people. So I think it's a compliment to be associated with her. If I can do anything near to what she's done, then I'll be very happy.' This weekend, however, FitzGerald hopes to do her talking on the track. 'There's not too much pressure on me,' she says. 'I'm just going to enjoy it, soak it all up, and get some experience competing against some of the best in the world. Hopefully, I'll get into the final and compete for one of those medals.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion But whatever happens, FitzGerald is clearly a major talent with plenty of room to improve, given she only took up running in her early teens during the pandemic. 'I'd go out four or five times a week for a half an hour, and build up some fitness. I didn't really know racing was a thing. But when I went back to school after Covid, they were doing an initiative trying to get people a bit fitter. At the beginning of every PE lesson, we'd have to do 10 minutes running around the field. And my PE teacher was like: 'Yeah, you're quite good at this.'' That teacher encouraged her to join a club, but the nearest one was a 45-minute drive away. 'And there was no way my dad was going to take me there,' says FitzGerald. 'It wasn't until I did well at parkrun that we got in contact with my coach, Gavin Pavey, and I managed to persuade my dad to take me twice a week to the track.' Pavey has some pedigree, having coached his wife, Jo, to five Olympic Games and European and Commonwealth medals. He is impressed with what he has seen, especially given FitzGerald still runs a low volume of miles each week. 'I don't like bigging people up too much but Innes is very good,' he says. 'She's doing things that other young athletes at this stage haven't done obviously, breaking that under-20 3,000m European indoor record. And to run 8min 40sec off the volume she's doing is really pretty exciting.'
