Fay runs race of his life to break Irish 5000m record in Belgium

Dubliner etched his name in Irish record books ahead of likes of Alistair Cragg, Eamonn Coghlan and Frank O’Mara as he qualified for next month’s World Championships and next year’s Olympics in Paris

Sat, 15 Jul, 2023 - 19:59

Cathal Dennehy

It was, as Brian Fay put it, “the race of my f**king life.” At the KBC Nacht meeting in Heusden, Belgium on Saturday evening, the 24-year-old Dubliner became the fastest Irishman of all time over 5000m, breaking Alistair Cragg’s national record by two seconds, clocking 13:01.40.

The race was won by Kenya’s Cornelius Kemboi in 13:00.68, with Fay in second going well under the 13:03.53 mark set by Cragg in Brussels 12 years ago. It makes the Raheny Shamrock athlete the third fastest in Europe this year and puts him 21st in the world.

“I’m absolutely buzzing,” Fay said over the phone from Belgium. “I thought if I could break 13:20 I’d be happy. With a lap to go I was hurting, but I knew if I went sub-60 I could get a national record so I said, ‘f**k it, I’m going, I don’t care if I blow up. I’m giving it a go.’”

That he certainly did. Fay unleashed a furious kick to etch his name on the Irish record books ahead of multiple international medallists like Cragg, Eamonn Coghlan and Frank O’Mara, also qualifying for next month’s World Championships in Budapest and next year’s Olympics in Paris. It had been a slow, steady rise to this level.

Fay’s talent was first unearthed at Belvedere College by PE teacher and athletics coach Ronan Duggan, who turned him into a national medallist in his teenage years before handing him over to Feidhlim Kelly, who guided Fay’s career during his years at DCU. With his undergraduate degree complete, Fay set off for the University of Washington in 2021, where he was coached by Andy Powell. After finishing up his studies there earlier this year, he returned to Dublin and is again under the guidance of Kelly at his Dublin Track Club training group, with Kelly trackside in Belgium to witness his feat.

“Feidhlim said to me I needed to learn how to commit in races, I wasn’t committing,” said Fay. “With one kilometre to run, I was like, ‘I’m full sending here. I’m just going to go for it.’” And now, all of a sudden, Fay has both a World Championships and Olympic Games pencilled into his agenda.

“I didn’t even know Budapest was on the cards but now I’ll give it a lash, try make that final,” he said. “It bodes well for next year, I can train away now with the Olympic standard, and try to make an impact at the Europeans and Olympics.” Asked how it felt to surpass Cragg, Fay said: “I did not think I’d be anywhere near that. It was the best performance of my life, by a good bit.”

Elsewhere, the Irish men’s 4x100m team broke the national U-23 record to finish fifth in the final at the European U-23 Championships in Espoo, Finland, the quartet of Gabriel Kehinde, Runo Ayavoro, Colin Doyle, and Israel Olatunde clocking 39.51.

Olatunde, who clocked the fastest anchor leg at 8.95, said: “The last few years for the relay team has been a journey and we want to thank our coach Daniel Kilgallon and Christian Malcolm for supporting us out here. Hopefully we can build on this and make more finals and keep pushing Irish relay on over the next few years.”

The final day of the championships could be a memorable one for the Irish, with Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan looking the two standout athletes in the women’s 1500m, with the final going to the line at 4:25pm Irish time on Sunday. Both breezed to victory in their heats on Saturday morning. Cian McPhillips could also spring a surprise in the men’s 800m, which sets off at 4:10pm. The action can be watched live on Allathletics.tv.