Race walker Alex Wright declares for Ireland

Alex Wright from London won the Irish 30 km Walk Championships in Dublin last Sunday in a time of 2h 13m 57s. In the World Championships this year in Moscow, he competed for Britain in the mens 30k walk and was the first Britsh athlete to compete at the World Championships since 1996. Wright has now said that that he is switching international allegiances and declaring for Ireland.

As his father is from Tyrone, Alex Wright qualifies for Irish citizenship and only received it last Friday. He said that some of the main reasons that he made the switch was because he was training on his own in the UK and the lack of recognition for race walking in Britain.

He recently moved to Cork to train with Irish internationals Brendan Boyce and Rob Heffernan.

Some stats...
Personal Best Times
1 mile walk 5.58.4 UK National Record
3000MWi 11.23 UK National Record (Indoors)
5000MW 19:27 UK National Record
10k Walk 41:24.....If repeated, this would put him 5th on the all time Irish list.
20k walk 1:23:05 (Set in March 2013)....If repeated, this would put him 5th on the all time Irish list.