“The least I can do is voice my solidarity with those suffering on the front line of climate breakdown.”

Young British distance runner Innes FitzGerald has refused to fly to Australia to compete in the World Cross Country Championships.

The leading junior female endurance athlete wrote to British Athletics to excuse herself from the event because of the huge emissions released by flying to the other side of the world.

“I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes, and loved ones as a result,” FitzGerald wrote.

“The least I can do is voice my solidarity with those suffering on the front line of climate breakdown.”

FitzGerald added that the decision was ‘not easy’ but she would feel worse for taking the flight – which on average takes 18 hours and 30 minutes from England to Australia.

“I had to make a move. I had to do something just to make sure people were aware of the problem,” she told BBC Newsbeat

“I just thought I needed to do something.

“So when I had the opportunity to go to Australia, I was like, well, this is when I should say something.”

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Mixed opinions

The promising long-distance runner’s stance has divided opinion. While many praised her decision, others ridiculed it.

“Her decision to restrain her athletic career for climate conscience must be saluted,” wrote one Twitter user.

“I think this is admirable. She’s not even being preachy about it, she’s just done something that sits right with her and her values,” another added.

FitzGerald was also praised by Olympic Champion Etienne Stott of the Champions for Earth campaign.  The organization encourages and empowers athletes to use their platforms to speak out about climate change.

He said: “I think her decision is incredibly brave.

“I am also very sad that she has felt that she needs to take it.

“She has grasped how severe and immediate the threat is and is acting on that understanding.

“Reconciling her sporting ambitions with a desire to protect our planet has led her to a brave and principled stand.”

He added: “Her stance has got a lot of people thinking! She has been very humble and isn’t telling people what to do, but she is communicating, through her actions, how seriously she is taking the challenge.

“Either way, the future of sport will look very different to how it looks now.

“Presently, sport is heavily reliant on cheap air travel and this is not sustainable, and I think sport has to face up to that challenge.

“But in the meantime, it’s a great shame that athletes like Innes are left feeling that it’s up to them to take such self-sacrificing acts to safeguard their future.”

However, other comments on Twitter ranged from “another young mind captured by the climate hoax. The race – and the flight – will go ahead without her” to  “she’ll regret becoming a victim of brainwashing!” to “she may as well hang up her spikes now”.

Greta Thunberg of sport

This is not the first time the 16-year-old, who has been running competitively for a little over a year, has taken a stand against flying.

She refused a flight to the European Cross Country Championships in Turin on 11 December 2022, and reached the event after a 20-hour train journey from Exeter to Italy.

After the race, she told Athletics Weekly: “Environmentally, I don’t really want to fly. Obviously it’s going to be an issue in the future but it’s so environmentally damaging that I can’t really justify it.”

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