Innes Fitzgerald is is a British track and field athlete and cross country runner from Devon, England. FitzGerald set a new under-17 record for 3,000 metres, and in December 2022 finished fourth in the under-20s European Cross Country Championships in Turin, to avoid flying to the competition FitzGerald took a 20-hour coach and train journey from Exeter to Italy.
In January 2023, FitzGerald turned down the opportunity to compete at the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia because of concerns she holds about contributing to climate change. In a letter to UK Athletics she wrote that “The reality of the travel fills me with deep concern”, adding that “I was just nine when the COP21 Paris Climate agreement was signed. Now, eight years on, and global emissions have been steadily increasing, sending us on a path to climate catastrophe. Turning this around is only possible through transformational change from collective and personal action.” In it’s coverage of this, The Times called Innes “The Greta Thunberg of Sport.”
