Fay breaks Irish indoor 5,000m record by nine seconds in Boston

Brian Fay last night broke the Irish indoor 5,000m record with a superb 13:16.77 at the BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Opener in Boston, taking over nine seconds off the record set by Barry Keane in December 2021.

The Raheny star crossed in eighth place overall in the early hours of the morning, with previous record holder Keane (Waterford AC) crossing in 14th to also better his old Irish record time in clocking 13:21.57.

Fay's performance comes just weeks after he took 13th runnning for the University of Washington at the NCAA cross country championships, where he was the second European to finish.

Keane's old Irish record of 13:25.96 had previously bettered the mark set by Alistair Cragg (13:28.93) which had stood since 2003.

Both Fay and Keane will be part of the Irish team taking to cross country action at the European Cross Country Championships in Turin on 11 December.

There was more good news for Irish fans in the United States this weekend, with Stephanie Cotter (West Muskerry AC) becoming only the ninth woman ever to twice win the NCAA D2 Cross Country title, having previously taken the race in 2019.