STEPH TWELL earned 12th place in the 5000 metres final as the championships came to a close but it will serve as fuel for an ambition that still burns strongly. The 26-year-old came here as a teen but her competitive Olympic experience lasted barely four minutes. Seven summers on, she returned stronger and wiser. This, she senses, is a platform on which she can build.
Freed from the shackles of the injuries and surgeries that have dogged the Scotland internationalist in recent times, Twell hoped for better than the time of 15:26.24 that was outside her season’s best. It was exactly a minute adrift of lmaz Ayana who sped to victory to lead home an Ethiopian sweep of the podium with Senbere Teferi accelerating over the closing lap to relegate 1500m champion Genzebe Dibaba into bronze as both dipped on the line.
Twell wondered if she could have got closer. “It was tough,” she said. “There was a moment in the race when you had to make the decision to go or not. And I knew Susan Kuijken was going to be strong so I wanted to work with her. There was a point that I thought I should have gone with the Kenyans. But then to be in the final, now I know what I need to step up to in future.”
The UK champion – one of the seven Scots who ventured east – can approach Rio with relish, as can Laura Muir after a fifth place in the 1500m that could have been more, as might Eilidh Child if she can convert technical tweaks into faster times. Chris O’Hare and Lynsey Sharp, despite tactical lapses, have immense potential untapped. And for Mark Dry and Kirsten McAslan, the experience gained will serve them well.
This, not the over-sold Commonwealth Games, is the target their younger compatriots should take aim at. After missing out on past editions, Twell can appreciate a global stage more. “Every training session, you think about it, being on this stage and the crowd out there, putting on the GB kit – you want to be the best in the country and be mixing it with the best, and to do so you have to race regularly and now I’m here,” she said. “I haven’t been on the scene for five years and I know I have some lessons to learn, but I am going to go away and use this as motivation.”
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