So sad: what a life! The rejected stone has finally becomes the corner Stone” as a 19years old young promising speedy star who was rejected in Paris Olympics” becomes the best in track and field after breaking a thunderous record” I don’t think anyone really knew until we finished” the 19 years old speaks his full mind” see details..
Nick Griggs, a youngster from Northern Ireland, broke the Parkrun world record by cutting the previous best time in Belfast by one second.
Griggs, who hails from Newmills in Tyrone, beat Olympian Andrew Butchart, who competed for Team GB in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, in June 2023 with a time of 13 minutes and 44 seconds at the weekly 5km event held in Victoria Park.
The Belfast venue was also the place where the best women’s Parkrun time of 15:13 was set by Ciara Mageean last December.
The 19-year-old Griggs has been making waves in the world of athletics, winning the European Under-20 3,000m title as a 16-year-old in 2021 and, after further European medals at age group level, qualifying for the senior European Championships in Rome earlier this year.
He narrowly missed out on selection for the Paris 2024 Olympics for Team Ireland, as Andrew Coscoran, Luke McCann and Cathal Doyle pipped him to the available 1500m places.
And Griggs admitted he was shocked to set the fastest Parkrun time in history, having not even set out to do so.
“I wasn’t going into it trying to break the record,” Griggs said on BBC Radio Ulster. “Before the race, I knew I was in good shape and knew I should be within a chance of breaking the record. It was a bit of a sprint finish to get it but it was a good feeling.
“I don’t think anyone really knew until we finished. I looked at my watch and saw I had taken a second off the world record. It was pretty shocking. I wasn’t really thinking about it, to be honest. We all realised after and there was a bit of a buzz around it.”
Since missing out on Olympic selection, Griggs has produced personal bests over 1500m, 3,000m and 5,000m.
A few days before the Olympics began, he set a Northern Irish record of 7:36.59 for the 3,000-meter run in the London Diamond League meeting in July, a Northern Irish record of 13:13.07 for the 5,000-meter run at the Morton Games, and a time of 3:35.04 for the 1500-meter run at the British Milers Club meeting in Tooting.
Parkrun technically does not classify times as world records, with the organisation describing its events as a “run and not a race”.
