Eilish McColgan ran the second fastest time ever by a European athlete over 15km at the Zevenheuvelenloop in Nijmegen on Sunday (16).
The British runner clocked a British record and European lead of 47:12 to finish fourth in a hard-fought women’s race in the Netherlands won by Ethiopia’s Asmarech Anley (47:05) ahead of Uganda’s Esther Chebet (47:09) and Aynadis Mebratu of Ethiopia (47:09).
It places her second behind only the Netherlands’ Lornah Kiplagat’s 46:59 in Udine, Italy in 2007 and noses her ahead of the legendary Norwegian Ingrid Kristiansen, who ran 47:17 in Monaco in 1997 in the all-time European lists.
Three-times a European medallist on the track, McColgan has competed entirely on the roads this year, but her performance augured well for the immediate future.
It was 28 seconds quicker than the personal best she ran at the same event three years ago at the end of her best-ever season in the sport which saw her win Commonwealth 10,000m gold as well as 5000m bronze and 10,000m silver at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships.
Foppen sets European lead
In the men’s race, there was also a European lead for hometown runner Mike Foppen who delivered a great display on familiar territory, clocking 42:42 to place sixth in race which was won by Kenya’s Victor Kipruto (41:42).
