GOING FOR GOLD:
Track superstar Innes FitzGerald
“Having won the European U20 title the past two years in a row there was quite a lot of pressure and expectation riding on me going into the championships.”
An Exeter student dubbed the ‘Greta Thunberg of Sport’ has been smashing European running records alongside her environmental activism. At just 19 years old, Innes FitzGerald, a second year Sport and Exercise Science student at the University of Exeter had already broken two European U20 records.
Nicknamed after climate activist, Greta Thunberg, by both The Times and The Telegraph, for her environmental stance, Innes has been turning down competitions where she believes a single race does not justify the emissions of the travel.
When she does travel, Innes chooses the most carbon-efficient routes – including a 20-hour journey she took by bus, train, and bike to reach Turin for the European Cross-Country Championships in 2022.
Innes has only been running for three years but is already faster than Olympic legend Paula Radcliffe was at the same age. Her coaching team now includes five-time Olympian Jo Pavey – who has won World, European, and Commonwealth medals – as well as Pavey’s husband and coach, Gavin. Jo was awarded an Honorary Degree by the University in 2016.
Initially making her mark in 2022, Innes smashed the UK under-17 women’s record to win SIAB Schools International and has been going from strength to strength ever since. In early February 2025, Innes competed in the 3000m race in Ostrava, as part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold.
Using her growing platform, Innes has been aiming to raise awareness about the environmental cost of high-level sport. Her activism around the carbon footprint of sporting events earned her the Young Athlete of the Year award at the BBC Green Sport Awards in 2023.
“Having won the European U20 title the past two years in a row there was quite a lot of pressure and expectation riding on me going into the championships.”
We recently caught up with Innes after a busy year of events: “Following a long summer of racing where I ran under 20 European records in both the 3000m and 5000m, won double gold at the European U20 champs and made the GB team for the world athletics championships in Tokyo, I was relieved to have a couple of weeks off.
“Luckily this coincided with the start of term, so I was able to ease back into uni life a bit more gently. But before I knew it, we were back training again, with the focus on the winter season and therefore cross country.
“Mid-November I raced my first cross country race in Cardiff before the European trials in Liverpool a couple of weeks later. Winning this gave me automatic selection for the GB team heading out to Lagoa, Portugal for the European Cross country Championships. Having won the European U20 title the past two years in a row there was quite a lot of pressure and expectation riding on me going into the championships. Training had been going well, however you never know what is going to happen. Luckily come race day I was feeling good and I was able to come away with the win! It was also my final year competing as an U20 so a nice way to close that chapter.”
We recently caught up with Innes after a busy year of events: “Following a long summer of racing where I ran under 20 European records in both the 3000m and 5000m, won double gold at the European U20 champs and made the GB team for the world athletics championships in Tokyo, I was relieved to have a couple of weeks off.
“Luckily this coincided with the start of term, so I was able to ease back into uni life a bit more gently. But before I knew it, we were back training again, with the focus on the winter season and therefore cross country.
“Mid-November I raced my first cross country race in Cardiff before the European trials in Liverpool a couple of weeks later. Winning this gave me automatic selection for the GB team heading out to Lagoa, Portugal for the European Cross country Championships. Having won the European U20 title the past two years in a row there was quite a lot of pressure and expectation riding on me going into the championships. Training had been going well, however you never know what is going to happen. Luckily come race day I was feeling good and I was able to come away with the win! It was also my final year competing as an U20 so a nice way to close that chapter.”
In December 2025, Innes won gold at the European Cross-Country Championships, bagging her a triple gold win in her age bracket. Innes won the 4.5k race in Lagoa, Portugal for a third consecutive year, and this year it was with a time of 14.35. Her 32-second lead is the biggest margin of victory in women’s under-20 racing in the history of the events. It caps a year that has seen the rising star smash a number of under-20 records.
In January 2026, Innes broke the UK female record for completing the fastest Parkrun. She completed the 5km run, which took place in Exmouth on New Year’s Day, in 15 minutes and 27 seconds.
Innes has also been named British Under-20 Female Athlete of the Year by Athletics Weekly, the latest accolade for a runner committed to making sustainable choices.
Innes is also a SaSkCo scholar here at the University. SaSkCo Scholarships are awarded to male and female student athletes who have aspirations of competing at an Olympic Games, enabling recipients to balance the demands of training and competing in international-level sport with the time commitments of studying for a degree at a Russell Group university. SaSkCo Scholarships were initially supported by alumnus Simon Greenberg (History, 1990). Following Simon’s death in 2021, a group of his Exeter contemporaries led a fundraising appeal to enable the University to continue to award SaSkCo Scholarships in his memory.
Delivered through Exeter’s Performance Sport programme, SaSkCo Scholarships are tailored to the needs of the individual athlete and typically provide funding towards scholars’ sporting expenses, alongside a comprehensive package of support services including sport-specific coaching and elite level strength and conditioning, physiotherapy, sports psychology, and nutrition support.
