An Irish teenager from Tyrone has broken the Irish U20 1500m indoor record. Nick Griggs broke the record at the National Indoor Arena on Wednesday evening.
Griggs finished with a time of 3.43.71 and broke Cian McPhillips record by a second. Phillips set the record two years ago.
He finished nearly four seconds ahead of senior runner John Travers, who came second after a brillant run
Massive credit to @DavidMatthews2 for a class and smoothly run event and @popupraces for sponsoring the race. Excited to see what’s in store for the outdoor season now. https://t.co/0S47gderO8
— Nickgriggs4321 (@nickgriggs4321) February 16, 2022
He took to twitter and said:
Massive credit to @DavidMatthews2 for a class and smoothly run event and @popupraces for sponsoring the race
"Excited to see what’s in store for the outdoor season now,"
It's not the only record the Tyrone teen has broken. Last Saturday Griggs broke the U20 3000m indoor record, running 7:57:38 at Abbotstown
Further back than that in December the 17-year-old was part of the Ireland U20 team which won silver at the European Cross Country Championships and five months earlier, as a 16-year-old, he won gold in the 3000m at the European U20 Championships in Tallinn
Speaking to the BBC Griggs spoke about the loss of his brother and how it spurred him on to win the race back in December
"You can't just sit in your bed and mourn about it. You can mourn in your own time.
"I had to keep running. It gave me a focus where I could go on a run and just clear my head and focusing on those Europeans especially was really useful because it was six weeks away.
"I had already got the qualifying standard. I had to keep training and plowing on and if I could do anything in those Europeans it was going to be massive for me and for Josh as well. I could dedicate that to him."
Here's to many more years of successful running for Griggs.
- First Irish under-20 athlete to break 8 mins for 3k
- Irish under-20 indoor 1500m record holder (3.43.71)
- Euro under-20 3k champion
He's 17 years of age. Tyrone's Nick Griggs is the next big thing in Irish distance running 🏃♂️ pic.twitter.com/D8hJt5m4oC— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 17, 2022
