Sinead McConnell spent almost 30 years away from race walking – but the Castlefin woman won a World Masters bronze medal today in Malaga.
McConnell finished third in the 5k walk, setting a new Donegal record of 27:01.46 in the process.
McConnell made light of the red-hot conditions to finish just two seconds behind the silver medallist, Hungarian Katalin Bodorkos-Horvath.
“I came here looking for a medal,” McConnell said.
“I did believe it would happen, but you always have that doubt. I thought about nothing but a medal – but I never believed it would come true.
I only started back race walking in the last four years. At the start it was just about winning Irish titles.
“I won Irish and British titles and Patsy (McGonagle, her coach, said: ‘Jesus, we’ll need to target something higher here’. He mentioned European and Worlds. I thought: ‘Where are we going with this?’ He was a great motivator and he got me here.
“I can’t believe it. Everything just worked out so well. I was in race zone.”
Listen to the full interview below …