Toowoomba’s Pat Tiernan sets Aussie record in Paris marathon

Erasing the painful memories of two race falls at the Tokyo Olympics, long distance runner Patrick Tiernan has written his name into Australian sports history. Read about his record breaking Paris Games run here.

Toowoomba’s Patrick Tiernan approaches the finish line of the Paris Olympic Game’s men’s marathon.

Picking himself up from two race falls, Patrick Tiernan captured the hearts of the international sporting community at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Watching from their Toowoomba home, the images of their battered and bruised son fighting gamely to finish the men’s 10,000m men’s final broke the hearts of his parents Karen and Jim.

Television footage aired at the time showed Patrick falling to the ground once, but his parents discovered in a phone call he fell earlier as well.

“We spoke to him on Saturday and he’s looking a lot better compared to how he was after the race,” mum Karen Tiernan said.

“He told us he is feeling a lot better but still a bit dehydrated.

“It was heartbreaking seeing him like that.

“He told us he knew he had problems with about 350m to go in the race.

“We didn’t know what happened earlier until he told us about it.

“All we knew was he’d fallen off the pace before we saw that last fall.”

Patrick Tiernan competes in the men’s 10,000m final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Picture: Getty Images

Fast forward to the Paris Olympic Games, and Tiernan will be remembered for a very different reason.

Making his Olympic Games marathon debut, Tiernan broke the Australian record held by Robert de Castella for 40 years.

Finishing 24th in a time of 2:10:34 he shaved 35 seconds of the mark set by de Castella at the 1984 Los Angles Olympics.

“I’m stoked,” said Tiernan, who teared up as he reflected on his fightback from Tokyo.

“Having this run after Tokyo is such a big deal and a much better reflection of what I can do on the international stage.

“I think I’ve found the right event.

“I’m still learning the event, this is my third one, but this is the event I want to do going forward.

“I executed exactly how I wanted to … I’m just f***ing thrilled.”