Fionnuala McCormack secured a 25th place finish in the Women’s Marathon overnight at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 36-year-old, who was competing at her fourth Games, finished in a time of 2:34:09.
It was also incredibly her first race back since childbirth.
She went out with the lead pack from the start, where over 40 athletes settled in with the early pace, and that large group remained intact throughout the first 10km.
The field then began to string out, and McCormack passed the halfway marker in 27th place (1:15:41), less than 30 seconds down on the leaders.
The second half of the race then saw the leaders begin to wind it up, and McCormack held a mid-twenties position throughout, moving up two spots with a strong final 2km to claim a top 25 placing.
Ever ambitious, McCormack said wasn't fully satisfied with herself or her performance, saying she will be back as she targetted improvement.
“It wasn’t the result I had hoped for.
"It was a battle out there today, both physical and mental.
"Running has broken my heart so many times, so I should probably be used to it, but I still love it so I’ll be back again.”
The race was won by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir with Aoife Cooke, unfortunately, pulling out before the halfway point.
Belmullet-born Sinead Diver, who was representing Australia, finished in the top ten, clocking a time of 2:34:15.
Elsewhere on day 15 at the Games, Stephanie Meadow came seventh in the women's golf on 12-under-par, just five shots off winner American Nelly Korda.
Reacting to her impressive placing on the leaderboard, Meadow said;
“I’ve played some really good golf over the last few days. I’m really happy with that and just overall to finish top 10 in the Olympics which is something I’ll cherish forever.”
“It’s an interesting mentality here, there’s no cut and all you think about is getting a medal so I think I might take some of that and set the sights higher and kind of focus on that and let nothing else slow you down.
"That’s something I’ve learned from this week and hope to take on to the next coming weeks.”
Leona Maguire finished up in a tie for 23rd on 5-under-par.
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