Super Scots are sailing away in middle distance
IN A golden age for Scottish athletics, the 24-carat content is particularly concentrated in one key area. When it comes to the 1,500metres, one of track and field’s undoubted blue riband events, world-class performances are now the norm.
As the best athletes on the planet start building for an unusually long summer season, culminating in the World Championships in the temperate climes of Doha during September and October, the battle to be top Scot in the metric mile is going to be absolutely gripping.
Because even winning selection for those championships is going to take something utterly spectacular.
We genuinely have reached a stage where being ‘top Scot’ over the 1,500, in both the men’s and women’s races, means being a strong contender for a world medal.
‘The 1,500 is pretty special at the moment,’ says Stephen Maguire, with a nice hint of understatement.
The director of performance and coaching at Scottish Athletics doesn’t hold back when looking forward to Doha, though.
Without stretching his imagination too far, he can definitely see Team GB being entirely reliant on talent from north of the Border.
And he can envisage one or more truly outstanding runners being squeezed out of the three spots available.
‘Yeah, I could see an all-Scots lock-out of the places in the men’s and women’s 1,500,’ said Maguire. ‘Why not? That’s the way you have to look at it.
‘And you could end up with a genuine world-class athlete sitting at home.
‘But that’s the way you have to be. Everything has to be about world-class performance — and they’re all reaching that level.
‘So, for one or more genuine world-class athletes to be left out, it will be really, really tough on them.
‘But that’s where endurance running has got to in Scotland. It’s truly world-class.
‘They won’t apologise for that. And we shouldn’t. We should embrace it and reflect on how good it is, not be afraid to say how good it is. Because what they’re doing is pretty special.
‘There are only so many places. And the guys won’t change anything. The camaraderie is very good but, once they stand on that line together, it’s every man for
themselves. It’s extremely good that there are so many Scots challenging for the top positions in the British team. But, yeah, people will lose out.
‘We have to recognise how special this is — and not get complacent, just thinking that it’s always going to be there. It’s going to be impossible for this always to be there.
‘But Scottish athletes are developing into role models in their own right, which is giving the younger ones impetus to push on.’
Jake Wightman, Josh Kerr and Chris O’Hare made up an all-Scots trio in the 1,500 at the last World Championships, two years ago.
They’re now joined in the battle for places by Neil Gourley, a definite threat. Wightman made his return from injury at the weekend, showing impressive pace to win the 800 at the BMC Grand Prix.
In the women’s event, Laura Muir is obviously the front runner not just in Scotland and Britain but, arguably, all of Europe.
But she’s got more than decent back-up on the home front, with four of the six fastest 1,500 times in Scottish history coming from athletes still active — Muir, Eilish McColgan, Steph Twell and the hugely promising Jemma Reekie. The ‘other two’ among the leading half dozen? Liz McColgan and Yvonne Murray. That’s the kind of class we’re talking about. Muir came out of the blocks flying in her first proper outdoor race of 2019 on Sunday, breaking the fourminute barrier for the tenth time as she finished a more-than-creditable second behind reigning world and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegong at the Prefontaine Classic in San Francisco. While McColgan and Twell are better suited to longer distances, Reekie — who trains alongside Muir — is emerging as a contender-in-waiting.
‘With Jemma, if all you ever know is to run that fast, that’s all you’ll ever do,’ explained Maguire (below).
‘And it’s a big message to everyone else. If the talk in the training group is about winning world titles and running under four minutes, you’ve got no choice other than to embrace it.
‘The training is tough, of course. The mindset is tough. The thing the general public need to realise is how mentally and emotionally tough it is to be at the top of the tree.
‘It’s almost as hard as it is physically, having the mental strength to be at the top — and to keep pushing your body to the max. That training group is a very good example.
‘You might have read a great book called The Talent Code (by Daniel Coyle). It shows that you get these world-class environments that spring up.
‘When that happens, success is non-negotiable — because that’s all they’re familiar with. Talent hot spots. You can see that at different levels, athletes feeding off each other.
‘Laura has always said that, if she can do it, why can’t others?
‘She’s gone through her whole career based in Glasgow, going to university — she’s shown it can be done.’
There are different methods for different athletes. What is evident at the moment is that more Scots than ever are getting regular exposure to elite-level competition, with the Diamond League circuit and other major meets seemingly not complete with some of our runners in the field.
‘It shows how far they’ve come, the strength in depth — and how professional they’ve become,’ said Maguire.
‘They have embraced the professionalism of what they need to do.
‘They have good agents, they know it’s important to get into the right meets.
‘Even not so long ago, there would have been a request to the governing body, asking: “Can you do us a favour? Can you get us in there?” There is none of that now. They’re there on their own merit.
‘And it shows that Scottish endurance running is as strong as it’s ever been, with real superstar material in there.’