Fionnuala McCormack (née Britton) finished 13th in the Chicago marathon in 2:33:15 to comfortably make the qualifying time for the Olympic Games.
The two-time European Cross Country champion was on course for a sub 2:30 clocking for a large portion of the race but slowed in the second half. McCormack (Kilcoole) went through the first half in 75:09 and 78:06 for the second half.
Kenya’s Florence Kiplagat, the world half marathon record holder, won in 2:23:33. McCormack is now the second fastest qualifier for Rio behind Lizzie Lee who ran a personal best of 2:32:51 in Berlin, McCormack’s best time remains at 2:31:46 when she finished 10th at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in 2014. Breege Connolly (North Belfast Harriers) also has an Olympic qualifier and Maria McCambridge (DSD) is set to run in Frankfurt on the 25th of October.
