We’ll cope without the ace in our pack
TRACK LEGEND LIZ TIPS SCOTS TO SHINE ON GOLD COAST MINUS MUIR
SCOTTISH track legend Liz McColgan has tipped our athletes to hit unrivalled heights on the Gold Coast — despite global superstar Laura Muir’s absence.
Muir, who brought home a silver and bronze from the recent World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, is staying in Scotland to finish her veterinary studies while Team Scotland compete in Oz.
But former world 10,000 metres world champion McColgan says the squad has ample strength in depth to cope without their ace performer.
Scotland’s team management have publicly targeted a best-ever overseas Games, topping the 29-medal haul from Melbourne ’06.
Tipping daughter Eilish to compete for a medal in the 5,000m, where Muir would have started as one of the favourites, McColgan is bullish about the travelling party’s prospects.
Now a full-time coach who has been at the Sunshine Coast holding camp since earlier this month, McColgan said: ‘It’s unfortunate that Laura isn’t there but she’s got her veterinary studies that she needs to take care of.
‘We’ve still got a massive wealth of great athletes. It’s important to remember that.
‘Jake Wightman is up and coming. Steph Twell is on the turnaround again.
‘I think that there’s not just one person in Scotland who is good. We are very, very strong and have great strength in depth.
‘Callum Hawkins is great. We’re in a fortunate position to have such a good group.
‘I think that we are going to have a great Games. It’s always hard to say how many medals we’re going to win. But I think we’ll have a great opportunity — one of the better opportunities — of winning more medals than we’ve ever won. And that’s all you can really hope for.’
Eilish has been in Australia since the start of March, even though the Games themselves do not start until Wednesday week — while the athletics programme doesn’t get underway for another fortnight.
Despite being based in Doha, where most of her coaching work is, Liz still manages to keep close tabs on her No 1 athlete from a distance.
And she’s been with her every step of the way in Oz, investing time and — in lost earnings as a self-employed coach — money at a crucial stage for the 27-year-old.
‘Realistically, at the Commonwealth Games, we should expect Eilish to get a medal,’ said McColgan, whose famous gold medal-winning run at the Games in Edinburgh 32 years ago remains one of Scotland’s most iconic sporting moments.
‘Both of us are going there knowing what she is capable of doing.
‘It’s never easy to win a medal, especially as an endurance athlete in the Commonwealth Games.
‘It’s tough, really tough, when you look at the Kenyans and other athletes — and the British girls are now among the best in the world!
‘But I think she’s looking at a medal, if we do everything right.
‘It’s really, really difficult, not being with her all the time. That’s where other people have an advantage, a coach being with them every day.
‘Having those three weeks together over Christmas made a difference.
‘If your eyes and ears aren’t there, you can’t judge things, you can only go on the whim of the athlete and what they’re telling you.
‘Eilish is very good, very honest and up front with me, she tells me everything, so it’s a very tight bond.
‘But even just in those few weeks over Christmas, I changed a few things based on seeing how she was running, what was needed and what wasn’t.
‘Between myself and my husband (former Olympian-turned-coach John Nuttall), we’re both trying to support her better.
‘John went to Kenya with her for training, we both work off each other, so he delivered the programme in Kenya — and I go to the Commonwealth Games.
‘When you’re self-employed, that’s what you need to do. I don’t have the luxury of being a paid coach — I’m self-employed and need to support myself.
‘Because she’s getting to that level now, if we don’t invest our time and efforts, she won’t reach her potential and hit the heights she can get to.
‘We have to support her. We’re very lucky in that there is a guy called Norman Poole, who has his own training group in Manchester, and he works with Eilish.
‘He has been very, very accommodating with us.
‘If I have a very, very specific thing I need done, something where I need Eilish to be monitored, he will adapt to what we need.
‘But it’s not enough, we need to start being there more often.
‘She has got support. There’s nothing worse than being on your own all the time, doing everything.
‘I did that as an athlete and I don’t think it’s the best scenario. You need a training group, you need feedback and input.’