EILIDH DOYLE claimed she was satisfied with her new role in the British 4x400 line-up even after watching their hopes of glory at the World Relays in the Bahamas evaporate.
The 30-year-old Scot was switched from her usual lead leg to third but left her squad in second place in the final before 2008 Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu was passed on the home straight as the USA, Poland and Jamaica shared the medals.
But with the Rio 2016 bronze medallists eyeing up a podium place as this summer’s world championships in London, Doyle insisted the experiment had been worth the effort.
“I’m not as used to the third leg as I am the first, so it was interesting having someone right alongside me for the whole lap,” she said. “I just wanted to make it hard for her on the straight and if she wants to go past me she’ll have to work hard and do it on the bend. I feel much better than I did (in the semis) and getting that first run in my legs has helped me run a bit better.”
The men’s 4x400 team – minus injured European champion Martyn Rooney – were sixth in their final but sprints chief Stephen Maguire believes the experiences will be worth the effort with one more likely warm-up before London at the European Team Championships in Lille.
“We always said this event was about developing the squads towards London,” the ex-Scottish Athletics head coach said. “After what we have seen here and in training all this week, I’m confident both these 4x400 teams will be very strong contenders for a place on the World Championship podium in August.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here