IRELAND’S FIONNUALA MCCORMACK produced her best-ever performance on the global stage to finish ninth in the Women’s Marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

The five-time Olympian clocked 2:30.16 in searing heat and humidity.

McCormack, who turns 41 later this month, gradually pushed up through the field in an impressive run to record her highest-ever finish at a global major championships.

What a run! 🔥

Fionnuala McCormack (Kilcoole AC) storms to a 9th place finish at the Women’s Marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo 👏

Her best EVER performance at global level 🤯

⏱️ 2:30:16#IrishAthletics #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/qPRVJGbkDu

— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) September 14, 2025

The Kilcoole AC star said she was “pleasantly surprised” afterwards. 

“I didn’t realise until [RTÉ reporter] David Gillick told me that I had came ninth,” McCormack told Athletics Ireland.

“It’s nice to get into the top 10. Obviously now, I’m thinking, ‘Could I have been a few places higher?’ But no, I picked off as many people as I could and everyone who I could see in front of me, I think I caught. There wasn’t a whole lot more I could do out there today. ”

Having made her World Championship debut in Osaka in 2007, finishing 12th the the Steeplechase final, the mother of three added: “Usually I feel like I have to come back again to redeem myself, but this time I don’t really feel like that.” 
https://x.com/irishathletics/status/1967072173493023013

Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir produced a lung-busting final 100m sprint to win a dramatic marathon.

In the sole final of the second morning session at the National Stadium, Jepchirchir edged Ethiopa’s Tigst Assefa for gold by just two seconds after an epic tussle.

The pair were neck-and-neck coming into the final kilometre of a gruelling marathon run in hot and humid weather.

Former world record holder Assefa chanced her arm as she bolted down the back straight. But Jepchirchir dug deep to battle back past her stuttering Ethiopian rival for a breathless gold.

Jepchirchir, Olympic champion at the same venue in the Covid-delayed 2021 Olympics, timed 2:24.43 for victory.

“It was not my ultimate plan to sprint in the final metres, but when I saw I was 100m from the finish, I just started to kick. I found some hidden energy there,” said Jepchirchir.

“I wasn’t expecting it to go like that,” McCormack added. “It went off harder than I thought it would. I thought conditions would be tougher.

“Maybe I held back a little bit, but I didn’t really hold back that much. People did die in the second half, I probably ran it right but you always want more!”

Elsewhere, Cork native Nicola Tuthill qualified for her first global final in the Women’s Hammer Throw at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

The 21-year-old threw a best of 70.70 metres to finish sixth in qualification group A, leaving her with a nervous two-hour wait before her place in the top 12 was confirmed.

There was further success for Sarah Lavin and Andrew Coscoran, who progressed in the 100m Hurdles and 1500m respectively.

- With reporting from – © AFP 2025

Written by Emma Duffy and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.