Almost 41 and mother of three, Fionnuala McCormack rallies again to finish ninth in World Championship marathon
DEFIANT: Ireland's Fionnuala McCormack competing in the women's marathon final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
IT HAS long been the case in Fionnuala McCormack’s career that when the going gets tough, she gets going. So it proved on a sweltering Sunday morning in Tokyo as the mother-of-three from Wicklow produced her best ever performance at a global championships, finishing ninth in the women's marathon in 2:30:16.
Ten days shy of her 41st birthday, this was a performance that typified the class, courage and commitment that has defined her illustrious career. It capped a superb second morning for the Irish at the Japan National Stadium, with 21-year-old Nicola Tuthill reaching the final of the women’s hammer, Andrew Coscoran advancing to the 1500m semi-finals and Sarah Lavin surviving an early scare to power into the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles.
But it was McCormack, 18 years on from her World Championships debut in Osaka, who was the undoubted star, slicing through the field over the latter half of the gruelling 42.2km race to crack the top-10 for the first time at global level. When she reached the finish, the Kilcoole athlete broke into a giant smile, beaming with justified pride.
“Usually I’m like, ‘I have to come back again to redeem myself,’ whereas this time, I don’t really feel like that,” said McCormack, who only realised she finished ninth when informed by RTÉ’s David Gillick. “Pleasantly surprised,” she added. “Obviously now I’m thinking, ‘Ugh, could I have finished a few places higher?’ But I picked off as many people as I could. Everybody I could see in front of me, I think I caught so there wasn’t a whole lot more I could do.”
As it always is with McCormack – an athlete who seems immune from bad performances – she extracted every joule of energy from her body during the two-and-a-half-hour suffer-fest. She ran the first of the race half with her head, and the second half with her heart.
With temperatures close to 30 degrees and humidity at 72 per cent, McCormack knew this would turn into a war of attrition, and so it proved. She made a sensible, conservative start, passing 10km in a steady 35:21 and in 33rd place. By halfway, reached in 1:15:17, she had moved up to 26th, while at 30km she was 18th.
As the going got progressively tougher, and so many others were reduced to waddling wrecks, McCormack kept picking off places, reaching 40km in 11th and passing two more athletes by the time she reached the finish in the stadium. Gold went to Peres Jepchirchir in 2:24:43, the Kenyan outkicking Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa (2:24:45), with Uruguay’s Julia Paternain taking a shock bronze in 2:27:23.
McCormack is the most-capped Irish female athlete in history and she’s been running championship marathons for over a decade, but this was by far the best of them, leaving behind the frustration that lingered from her Olympic outings in Rio (20th), Tokyo (25th) and Paris (28th). “You have so many bad days,” she said. “But it just makes you want to come back.”
The sweltering conditions ensured the times were modest all around, and if anything McCormack was hoping it’d be more oppressive, knowing she thrives in such scenarios. “I think it’s the cross country background in me,” she laughed. “It went off harder than I thought it would because I thought conditions would be tougher. People did die in the second half so I probably ran it right, but you always want more.”
In Osaka 18 years ago, McCormack finished 12th in the world final of the 3000m steeplechase and she had marked that down as an obvious target to surpass here. Back in Wicklow, her husband Alan had been awake in the witching hours while her three daughters Isla (6), Isabelle (4) and Naomi (2) were fast asleep. “I’m not sure they have the attention span for that,” she said.
In Paris last year, McCormack became the first Irishwoman to compete at five Olympic Games and given the way she’s running, the Los Angeles Games in 2028 look a distinct possibility. Next up for her, however, is the New York City Marathon in seven weeks’ time.
ELSEWHERE, Nicola Tuthill – who was born four months before McCormack earned her first senior cap for Ireland at the 2004 World Cross Country – capped her breakthrough year by reaching a first senior global final, the Bandon native finishing sixth in her qualification group with a best of 70.70m, which earned her the 12th and final qualifying spot for Monday’s final.
She made a shaky start with a 65.43m throw, which she improved to 68.77m in round two but after consulting with coach Killian Barry, she nailed her third-round effort to secure a spot in the final, having already won medals this year at the European Throwing Cup, the European U-23 Championships and World University Games.
“I’m buzzing,” she said. “The third throw, I went all in. I obviously hit it better with my technique, it was a bit faster. I wasn’t ranked top-12 so to make (the final) is really, really good. For field events back in Ireland, it’s so important. Hopefully it’ll inspire a few younger athletes coming up as well.” Andrew Coscoran also grabbed the final qualifying spot in his heat of the men’s 1500m, the Irish record holder utilising his vast experience to stay out of trouble in a messy race and emptying the tank in the home straight to finish sixth in 3:37.32, with victory going to former world champion Jake Wightman in 3:36.90. Among those finishing behind the Balbriggan man were Tokyo Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigten, who looked short of race sharpness on his comeback from injury and was eliminated in eighth place.
“You just have to come top six, not any higher, and I’m through to the semis and happy with my performance,” said Coscoran. “I can bring everything to the semis, I’m in good shape and if I can execute my plan as well as that, I’m going to run pretty well.” No such joy, however, for his teammate Cathal Doyle, who had struggled with an adductor injury in recent weeks and was unable to reproduce his usual finishing speed, coming home 12th in his heat in 3:42.60.
“I just didn’t have the legs, it felt like I was running on quicksand,” said Doyle. “I had to give myself somewhat of a chance, but I just didn’t have the legs when I needed it. It’s a little bit frustrating. I had a clear run with injuries for well over a year, but the last two or three weeks were rocky enough.” Sarah Lavin survived a scare in her heat of the 100m hurdles, the Limerick athlete getting off to a slow start after twitching in the blocks prior to the gun. However, she kept her composure to come through for third place, clocking 12.94 (0.2m/s) to secure an automatic spot in Monday’s semi-finals.
“There was a bit of a twitch either by myself or Marione [Fourie] and we were both very lucky girls,” said Lavin. “We didn’t lose contact with the block but it meant we were on the back foot when you’re resetting.” Lavin said she’d “fear the wrath” of her coach Noelle Morrissey for the error, but it’s one she hopes to avoid in tomorrow’s semi-finals. “You can bring whatever to a championship but you have to deliver in a certain moment. It’s on to the next one and everyone is a blank slate again. I knew my strength is the second half of the race and that’s the big positive to take: I didn’t panic and I came through the second half. Now I just have to get the first half right.” Five Irish athletes will be in action on Sunday evening, with Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker hoping to put the disappointment of Saturday’s mixed relay behind them in the heats of the women’s 400m, while Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan will race the semi-finals of the 1500m. Efrem Gidey will contest a straight final in the 10,000m, while the night will round off with the women’s and men’s 100m finals just after 2pm Irish time.
World Athletics Championships – Live, Sunday: RTÉ Two, 10.30am; BBC Two, 11am Irish in action (all times Irish) 11.25am: Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker – Women’s 400m heats 1.05pm: Sarah Healy, Sophie O’Sullivan – Women’s 1500m semi-finals 1.30pm: Efrem Gidey – Men’s 10,000m final
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