St Mary’s Alumna Wins Title at World Universities Cross Country

Alumna of St Mary’s University, Twickenham Izzy Fry won the women’s race at the recent 2022 FISU World University Championship Cross Country hosted in the Libson, Portugal.

Izzy completed the 10km race in a time of 31:32 to win the Gold Medal. She finished 9 seconds ahead of second placed Saskia Millard, who also ran for Team GB, as they won the team Gold Medal, ahead of German and Spain in second and third. Izzy, who was a Sports Scholar at St Mary’s, studied BSc Sport & Exercise and was also a key member of the Great Britain U20 team that won Gold at the 2019 European Cross Country Championships.

Speaking after the Race, Izzy said "I was expecting sun here, but the conditions were similar to those at home. It was my first time in a world championship so the gold medal will for sure remain a great memory."

In the Men’s Race, current St Mary’s students Cameron Allan and Alex Ediker represented Team GB. Cameron finished in 11^th, and Alex in 17^th, as the team finished in in 6^th place overall.

Head of Sport St Mary’s Andrew Reid-Smith said of Izzy’s performance “Izzy is a talented athlete who contributed a great deal to the St Mary’s endurance running programme. She produced a mature and dominant run to win Gold, and I’m sure Izzy will be targeting selection for the Commonwealth Games. We wish her every success for the track season ahead.”