Rouskey’s Roisin sets a new PB at World Championships

SHE may have been a late call-up to the Irish team for the World Indoor Athletics Championships, but Rouskey’s Róisín Flanagan didn’t let a lack of preparation time hold her back in Glasgow as she ran a new personal best in the women’s 3000m final.

The 26-year-old Finn Valley AC runner was added to the Irish team for the World Indoor Championships having been re-allocated a quota spot on the ‘Road to Glasgow’ rankings and she arrived in Scotland in good form, having set an Irish senior indoor record over two miles at the Millrose Games in recent weeks.

And she maintained that fine form during the women’s 3000m final, which saw a genuinely world class field do battle, finishing in a time of 8:36.06 minutes, which is fifth on the all-time Irish list behind Sarah Healy’s Irish record of 8:35.02 minutes..

While delighted to have got the belated call to travel from her base in Colorado, where she trains under Damon Martin, to Scotland, she was a little frustrated not to have gone even faster in Glasgow during her World Championship debut.

“It’s pretty incredible [to be at the World Championships],” she beamed. “I didn’t think, honestly, that I’d be here, so when I got the call I didn’t really question it too much because you don’t get these opportunities too much to go up against the best of the best. It was just an honour to be in the field, to line up against those athletes.

“I knew coming in that these athletes had very fast personal bests, so you get a bit excited but I wanted to run smart to give myself the best opportunity to run fast, of running a personal best.

“I was probably hoping for a little faster, in that sort of race, I could have given a little more but I was pretty dead by the end of it. I’m somewhat happy with it.”

Having overcome some pre-race nerves and recorded a PB in the process, Flanagan believes she can go even quicker, which she will hope to achieve in the spring and summer as she attempts to gain qualification points for the Paris Olympics and during her preparations for the European Championships in Rome.

“It’s daunting to be in a race like that but when I came out on the start line I was pretty calm before the race. I told myself I didn’t have too much pressure, but when I walked out and saw who I was up against and the crowd, my stomach turned a little bit but I’m glad I got the experience ahead of the summer and everything,” she explained.

“Initially I was a little bit disappointed [with her result] because I wanted to be a little bit faster and a little bit further up the field but I gave it my best and I’ll take away a learning experience from it and hopefully I’ll improve upon it in the summer and be a bit more up the field come the summer.

“Before then I’ll go back to training and get a heavy block of training in before some 5k races hopefully in April/May time, geared towards building some points towards Paris hopefully.”