14th October 2024

Robbie Fitzgibbon 1996-2024

Staff and colleagues at UK Athletics are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of GB & NI 1500m athlete Robbie Fitzgibbon at the age of 28.

A former English Schools 1500 champion, he represented GB & NI both as a junior and a senior athlete. As a junior, he was fifth in the 1500m final at the European Championships hosted in Sweden in 2015.

His PB over the metric mile of 3:36.97 was set in Nijmegen in 2017 and in 2019 Robbie represented GB & NI at the European Indoors hosted on home soil in Glasgow where he made the final.

Having received a medical diagnosis of psychosis in recent years Robbie had spoken openly about mental health issues, and was training to run the Brighton Marathon in 2025 in aid of the charity Mind

Robbie’s father Robin will now be running the 2025 Brighton Marathon in place of Robbie.

UKA CEO Jack Buckner said:

“Everyone at UK Athletics is saddened by this news. It is incredibly tragic to lose anyone from the athletics family especially someone so young.

“My heart goes out to his family, friends, running partners and club mates who knew of his love for the sport and have lost someone incredibly special.

“From the tributes made, it is clear he impacted so many lives of those around him and his loss will be felt by both the endurance and wider athletics community.

“We are sorry if the delay in publishing this reaction has upset some of those close to Robbie, but we do assure you all of our deepest sympathy and our commitment to have a wider discussion around mental health and elite sport.”

Please follow this link to make a donation to this very important cause.