A good night in Vienna for Izzy Fry, as she sets new PB in Austrian capital

Izzy Fry set yet another personal best in Vienna, as she raced through the streets of Austria’s capital in the 5000m on Saturday evening.

Having already set PB’s on three occasions this year, Izzy followed up a stellar senior debut at the European Championships with the first sub-fifteen minute time of her career, clocking in at 14:59.63.

Having already surpassed expectations in her comeback season, Izzy saw the event as something of a free hit.

“I knew that if I was going to run a more even race, then another PB would potentially be on the cards”, she said.

“Being so close to that fifteen minute barrier, that was the target.

“With the Olympic qualifying time being 14:52, I just went in with the mindset of reaching for the stars, going off at that pace and seeing what happens.

“I just wanted to give myself a chance to get that time.

“But on the day I didn’t feel great and it just wasn’t on the cards.

“So I had to switch my mindset to just targeting sub-fifteen. Just by a dip, I managed to get under!

“The Olympic time just wasn’t meant to be this year, but I’ve already exceeded my expectations by a huge amount.

“To come away with a sub-fifteen was a great way to end the season!”

Success at this level is defined by the slimmest of margins, reflected in Izzy’s time, a fraction of a second within the fifteen minute threshold and good enough for ninth place.

It was almost a disastrous ending too, as Izzy closed in on the finish line whilst catching backmarker traffic and overtaking faltering opponents.

“My boyfriend on the infield was calling splits, so I knew roughly where I was at”, she said.

“Coming into the last two laps, I knew it could be possible but the race was very messy.

“There were a lot of overtakes in the last few laps. I was catching up to groups of girls and had to squeeze through!

“The margins are just so small at this level, so every second is vital. I was delighted when I found out!

Following her somewhat unexpected recent success, Izzy’s plans for the rest of the season have changed slightly, with Vienna originally intended to be the end of her long distance calendar.

“Back to back 5000m races and all the travel, it takes it out of you!

“The coaches talk about it like draining the well, eventually it runs empty!

“But I’m going to do the 5000m at the British Championships this weekend.

“It might be one too many, but it’s a real opportunity, plus I missed it last year through injury.

“This will definitely be my last 5K. Then I’ll go into a block of training before a couple of 1500m as the season ends.”

Further PBs and an Olympic time might have to wait for now, but as she heads to Manchester for her final 5K outing on Saturday, Izzy and her supporters will know just how quickly expectations can be exceeded.