Innes FitzGerald has grown used to being called ‘The Greta Thunberg of sport’, a nickname she wears with pride. The British distance runner has built her public profile around high-level sporting results and a clear position on the climate crisis. “I think it’s incredible to be associated with someone who managed to make such a worldwide impact and is still doing amazing campaigns today,” she told Olympics.com to mark World Earth Day.

The runner from Devon, developed within the Exeter Harriers environment and a Sport and Exercise Science student at the University of Exeter, is one of Britain’s leading young distance prospects. In 2025, she ran 8:40.05 over 3,000 metres indoors in Ostrava, a performance that set a European under-20 indoor record and also improved a historic British mark associated with Zola Budd. Her case has drawn attention because her activism does not sit alongside a secondary career, but alongside a sporting trajectory already positioned within Europe’s junior elite.

The origin of the nickname ‘The Greta Thunberg of sport’

The comparison with Greta Thunberg began in 2023, when FitzGerald was 16 and turned down the chance to compete for Great Britain at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia. In a letter to UK Athletics, she explained that “the reality of the travel fills me with deep concern” and that she could not accept the impact of a long-haul flight for a single competition. “I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes and loved ones as a result,” she wrote at the time.

Three years later, FitzGerald still sees that decision as difficult, but also as a turning point. “The amount of change and conversation I managed to get from not going probably outweighed the benefit I would have had from the race experience,” she said. The response was different from what she had expected: “I got so much positive feedback when I was expecting a bit of backlash. It was just incredible to see the effect that a small decision like that can have.” Her stance also earned recognition from Champions for Earth and the BBC Green Sport Awards Young Athlete of the Year award in 2023.

Competing without flying: trains, buses and uncomfortable decisions

A month before turning down the trip to Australia, FitzGerald had competed at the European Cross Country Championships in Turin after travelling from her home near Exeter by overnight coach and several trains. Her family even took folding bikes to cover the transfers between stations and keep costs down. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I think about it,” she recalled of a journey in which she barely slept for two nights before finishing fourth. Even so, she defended the idea that land travel is possible if planned in advance.

Her position does not remove the conflict between competing at the highest level and reducing her carbon footprint. In 2025, after arriving in Apeldoorn for the European Indoor Championships, she acknowledged that the British team had flown and that she would have liked a different solution. “It’s quite gutting that the whole team didn’t go together on the train, considering it’s so close and so easy to do,” she said. She also admitted that, as a professional athlete, she sometimes has to travel to pursue her goals: “Even though I might be doing the wrong thing, just still saying that it’s wrong is better than just doing it and not saying it’s wrong.” In her view, the responsibility should not fall only on athletes, but also on the bodies that organise travel and calendars.

The family farm that shaped her climate activism

FitzGerald’s environmental awareness has family roots. She grew up on a small organic fruit and vegetable farm in Devon, near the border with Dorset, and in a passive house designed to require very little heating or cooling. “Growing up on a farm, and being connected to nature in that way, has always meant that I’ve been interested and aware of the impact of human actions on the natural world,” she explained. Her father, Joe FitzGerald, was once arrested during a climate protest after sitting in the road with a sign about the future of children.

That background has also shaped her daily habits. FitzGerald is vegan, drives an electric car, mainly buys second-hand clothes and has taken part in Extinction Rebellion protests in London. “I feel like I have a responsibility to those directly affected by extreme weather, and to raise awareness for the situations they are in as a result of our actions,” she explained. Her message to other athletes is not framed as an absolute demand, but as an invitation to review decisions: “I don’t want to say that everyone is in the wrong but just think through all your actions and realise the consequences and make sure you get the education you need to be aware of the impact of the aviation industry.”

FitzGerald is trying to sustain that position while studying, training and competing. She has worked with Gavin Pavey and within the circle of Jo Pavey, a five-time Olympian, in a career still under construction and with the Olympic Games remaining a long-term ambition. “I feel like it’s my responsibility to talk about climate concerns and do what I can,” she said. “If I can have anywhere near the impact of Greta, it would be incredible. I want to continue to campaign as much as I can within the athletics world.”