WORLD championship finalists Laura Muir and Eilidh Child head the shortlist for the Scottish Athlete of the Year award which will be presented at the sport’s annual dinner on October 31.

The duo from Kinross are joined on a four-strong list of nominees by Lynsey Sharp, who claimed the national 800m record, and hill runner Robbie Simpson, who took world bronze earlier this year.

However there is no place for Rhona Auckland, despite winning European gold in cross-country at Under-23 level before claiming silver on the track over 10,000 metres.

“Selecting the shortlists was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in that field,' said national coaching director Rodger Harkins. “We started out with a dozen contenders for the main award, for example. That’s a dozen Scots who had made a significant impact on the sport at British, European and world level over the past year.

“Eventually we managed to bring that down to a shortlist of four and within that there are two athletes who medalled at World Champs, Eilidh Child and Robbie Simpson, and two who set new National Records, Laura Muir and Lynsey Sharp. So I really do think we can justifiably say the bar was set high this year.”

The contenders of the Under-20 award are Great Britain junior internationals George Evans, Josh Kerr and Jack Lawrie with Ben Greenwood, Alisha Rees and Erin Wallace on the list at Under-17 level. The Masters Athlete of the Year nominees are Fiona Davidson, Kerry-Liam Wilson and Joasia Zakrzewski.