RODGER Harkins, the director of coaching at scottishathletics, has long learned the perils of second guessing selection committees. On this occasion, the smoke-filled room which he is referring to is the final deliberations for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for next week’s IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, which took place yesterday and will be communicated to the wider public today. But if another weekend of storming Scottish success in the British trials is anything to go by, it isn't unrealistic to hope that at least seven athletes from north of the border will be involved in the showpiece.
The equation, basically, comes in two parts. Make the qualifying standard, ideally twice, and finish in the top two at the trials and the place should be yours. But it is, of course, far more complicated than that. What happens if, in the case of Chris O’Hare, if you have two prestigious victories under your belt on your only two outings of the year, yet were forced to withdraw from the trials themselves with a foot problem? Or what, if in the case of Lanarkshire’s Mhairi Hendry, you have both the second-placed finish and the World Indoors Standard, but your emergence is so sudden that you have trimmed two whole seconds from your 800m time in the space of three weeks?
It goes without saying that all four of Scotland’s gold medallists from the weekend, Laura Muir (3000m), Eilish McColgan (1500m), Eilidh Doyle (400m) and Jake Wightman (1500m), will be back at the Arena Birmingham in a fortnight’s time. Aberdeen’s Zoey Clark, a runner up to Doyle in the 400m, is a shoo-in also.
But that, again, is only half the story. Because Muir, as reigning European Champion in the 1500m, and a fourth placed finisher outdoors in the World Championships last summer, will surely get the nod for her preferred event too, in the likely circumstance that – as she did everything but confirm on Saturday – she is up for giving it a go. As McColgan proved her robustness after years of injury worries by doubling up in the two events for a silver and gold this week, it would seem a no-brainer to allow her to double up too. But Harkins for one has learned to be cautious when it comes to selection decisions, as quite simply sometimes the selectors are armed with facts that the rest of us don’t possess.
“I have been involved in selection discussions with Scotland and selectors are armed with much more facts than just what you see in terms of performance,” Harkins told Herald Sport last night. “The selectors might want spread the wealth a little bit but if they are looking at performances and the delivery of performances you have to look at Laura and you have to look at Eilish. But what we don’t know is exactly what Laura or Eilish say to the selectors. It could be I want to double up, or I prefer one over the other, then that does open the door for the selectors to maybe bring in someone else who is maybe up and coming. But if you are looking at the best performances from two athletes, then that is your two athletes.
“We don’t have any input into it," he added. "It is a British team and it is done by a British selection committee. They are experts in their field, they know what they are doing so they should be able to judge performances. They will bring highly professional about how they select things, just like how the Scottish selection committee is for the Commonwealth Games team."
Harkins was thrilled with how Scottish athletes did in Birmingham this weekend, especially considering the one who didn't make it onto the start line. “There were nine medals last year, nine medals this year, and that is taking into consideration that Chris O’Hare pulled out. Jax Thoirs and Guy Learmonth pulled out. Steph Twell had a throat infection which flared up after her race last week.
“It was hard to pick out outstanding performances because there were loads of performances that were outstanding for different reasons," he added. "Mhairi Hendry’s 800m was just something special, she had a good run in Glasgow when she sat behind Laura and Laura dragged her round to a good time. But to replicate that at a Championships, and to finish second and run a world indoor qualifying time, was amazing, I was so pleased with that.
“Jake Wightman has always had a tussle with Charlie Grice but when Jake went he put the after burners on so that win was special as well. Then of course there is what Laura Muir did in the last km of that 3k. I am impressed with Eilish McColgan too because she ran that 3000m, then within an hour she has come out and done a 1500m heat.
“Mhairi has thrown her hat into the ring and stands a really good chance but we don’t know all the facts. We are making a passionate judgement call on what we see. If you say that and you are not furnished with all the facts then it can be difficult. But it is looking good for her. And I wouldn’t be overly concerned about Chris. He has just come out and run a couple of lightning fast races so he knows he is in great shape. If I were him, I would be wanting to make sure I didn't overcook it.”
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