Hurdles hero Colin calls on Scots contingent to clean up in Berlin
COLIN Jackson’s athletics prowess was always presumed to spring from his Jamaican roots, but just maybe his Scottish ancestry – revealed in a recent episode of BBC show Who Do You Think You Are? – had something to do with it.
The 110m hurdles legend, twice a world champion and an Olympic silver medallist over the distance, is part of the corporation’s punditry team for the European Championships which get under way in Berlin today, where he will cast his eyes over a whopping 17- strong representation from north of the border – the most we have provided to the event for a century.
Considering the national sporting heritage we derive from the likes of Liz McColgan, Yvonne Murray and Tom McKean, he isn’t surprised that more than half of our athletes will compete in the middle- distance events.
Perhaps this is clearest in the women’s 1500m, where young Jemma Reekie follows training partner Laura Muir over to Germany this week; or the men’s equivalent, where Chris O’Hare and Jake Wightman ( and others) have a healthy rivalry going on.
“Most of the best people I was running against were European!” joked Jackson. “So I always had to be on top form to win my championships. The European Championships was always one of the big competitions – the home of athletics, the sport really, is in Europe, so to win here you need to perform at your best. This is a medal which is always really well recognised; always very high on the list.”
While Muir’s battle with Sifan Hassan for 1500m gold, and O’Hare and Wightman’s duel with Norway’s Filip and Jakob Ingebritsen, promise to be highlights for a Scottish audience, Jackson reckons nine gold medals is more than achievable in all for this GB squad, as is a clean sweep of the men’s 100m medals.
“There was talk of Laura Muir doing the 800/ 1500m double, but she had that little Achilles problem which set her back,” he said. “When you are at that level, any tiny little thing which knocks off 0.05 per cent can have a massive effect.
“I think Laura will be in tip- top shape. Obviously in that kind of race things can happen, you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but we all know Laura’s capabilities.”