Tokyo 2020 August 6th Preview

POSTED:

Fionnuala McCormack will join an elite club of Irish athletes as she takes to the start-line for the Tokyo 2020 marathon later today.

It will mark the 4th Olympic Games appearance for the Kilcoole AC athlete who ran her first Olympics in Beijing in the 3,000m steeplechase, then the 10,000m in London in 2012, and also running the marathon in Rio in 2016.

McCormack qualified for Tokyo after she ran 2:26.47 PB in the 2019 Chicago marathon which smashed her previous best by nearly four minutes (2nd on Irish all-time list behind Catherina McKiernan’s 2:22:23 NR from 1998).

McCormack has a rich pedigree of success across a number of disciplines which includes being a two-time European Cross-Country champion (2011 & 2012) and European Indoor bronze medallist from 2013.

She bids to add a big performance in this evening’s Tokyo 2020 Marathon to her illustrious career, taking to the gun at 10pm Irish time.

McCormack will be joined in the marathon by Olympic debutant Aoife Cooke (Eagle AC) who saw her 2:28.36 in Cheshire in April knock four minutes off her PB to put her fourth on the Irish all-time list and qualify her for Tokyo.

Cooke qualified as a PE teacher in UCC and now works as a personal trainer but was out of competitive athletics for six-years until her 2:32 run to win the Irish title in the 2019 Dublin Marathon, which knocked 14 minutes off her PB, encouraged her to rediscover her talent.

Tokyo 2020 Marathon – Sapporo – 10pm Irish time

Live Results: Click HERE

Where you can watch: Click HERE

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