McColgan hoping for a grand finale in 5,000m

EILISH McCOLGAN wants to write a redemption story to close a chapter in her athletics career.

After a disappointing 10th-place finish in the 10,000m final, the Dundonian will take a second swing at success in the 5,000m, starting with tonight’s semi-finals.

Dealing with a hamstring issue and illness has left McColgan short of her perfect build-up. But with her marathon debut in London looming in October, this could be her last global tilt in the 5,000m, the 31-year-old admits.

She said: “I’d like to still think that the 10,000 would still be a large part of my build up for the marathon, 5,000 is the one that will start to drop a little. I’ll still race the 5000 for training perhaps, but won’t be something that I’m targeting a global championship in. But, I can’t predict the future. I don’t know how the marathon will go. But that’s certainly what we’re thinking.”

McColgan’s last race over the distance was one she did not finish due to a mystery bug at June’s Bislett Games where she had broken the British record 12 months earlier. Days before, she had felt in the right kind of shape to lower her mark again but now her true form and fitness remains up in the air.

“Certainly before Oslo, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that I was operating around European record territory,” she said. “I really want to try and get that 14:22 of Sifan Hassan’s before she goes and just absolutely obliterates that.

“It’s not an event that is run a huge amount. So I think that’s why that 14:22 is certainly within my capabilities. And it’s just frustrating for training to be going so well, even better than last year when I ran 14:28.55. I felt pretty confident that I could run in the low 14:20s. And then, unfortunately, that was blighted with the cold that I’ve had.”

Another runner with her eye on a record is Nicole Yeargin who believes she can reach the 400 metres final and take Allison Curbishley’s Scottish record.

The American-based Fifer heads into tonight’s semis needing the run of her life after qualifying as a faster loser.

But this is a lucky track, the 24-year-old says, after setting her personal best of 50.96 secs there in June 2021.

Now she is targeting a further leap forward – with the mark of 50.71 that earned Curbishley silver at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in her sights.

“Hopefully I will beat the national record,” she said. “I remember when I last competed here last year at the NCAAs, I was the most nervous I’ve ever been before a race. I thought I was going to pass out. I then went out here and ran a season’s best. So I take that and run with it every meet, especially this one, where I’ve done the same again. I know I’ll be nervous because it is the worlds, but the nerves can’t hurt you unless you let them.”