How quickly things move on in the world of sport.

Barely had Kylie sung her last note at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games when a select few Scottish stars got back to business. Eilidh Child and Lynsey Sharp, who won silver medals in the 400m hurdles and the 800m respectively at Hampden two weeks ago, are already back competing at another major meeting.

Both are involved in the European Championships where, having won heats and semi-finals of their events, both will contest finals tomorrow evening in the hope of adding European gold to Commonwealth silver - all in the space of a fortnight.

Child and Sharp are not the only athletes who were required to peak twice this summer; they are joined by fellow Scots Beth Potter, Chris O'Hare and Laura Muir and a raft of their British compatriots.

Track-and-field athletes are not alone in facing the challenge of refocusing immediately after an emotionally-draining home Games. The Scottish badminton team, who won a silver and a bronze medal at Glasgow 2014, travel to the World Championships in Copenhagen next weekend, while four male members of the Team Scotland swimming contingent will be in Berlin for their own European Championships.

Although the Commonwealth Games was a priority for most of the British participants in all of the sports, it was closer to the be-all and end-all for most of the Scots. None will compete in another home Commonwealth Games - most will not even compete in another major championship in their home country - so their focus was firmly trained on Glasgow 2014.

It is what makes the European Championships such a challenge for Child and Sharp, in particular. Child was the poster girl for the Commonwealth Games; her face was everywhere in the build-up to Glasgow 2014 and the pressure on her shoulders to deliver a medal was enormous. That the 27-year-old did deliver is testament to her strength of character but it cannot be underestimated quite what a strain coping with that level of expectation puts on an athlete.

Sharp too had huge pressure on her shoulders at Glasgow 2014. Having endured a year plagued with injury, the 24 year-old qualified for Team Scotland with just a few races to spare, sneaked through her semi-final at the Games by the skin of her teeth, spent the night before her final on a drip and then went on to win a spectacular silver medal. The emotion of her achievement was etched all over her face during her lap of honour following that second-place performance but it is incalculable just how draining that effort will have been for the Scot.

Neither had time to catch their breath before flying out to Switzerland for the Europeans though. Physically, both will still be in good shape. Although tricky, it is possible to maintain a peak for three weeks and both athletes are experienced enough to know exactly what training is required in order to keep their sharpness for that length of time.

Rather, it is the mental side of their performance which will, potentially, be their most dangerous stumbling block. I know that after winning Commonwealth medals in both 2002 and 2006 just how hard it is to refocus in the aftermath. When your heart and soul has gone into preparing for one, single competition, it takes a gargantuan effort to even begin to concentrate on another goal. After both the '02 and '06 Games, it took me several weeks, if not longer, to get back into my normal training routine and more importantly, my usual training mindset. Achieving at a Commonwealth Games leaves you on such a high that it is nigh on impossible to slip straight back into how things were in the run-up, which is what makes Child and Sharp's task this week so formidable.

Child is ranked No.1 in Europe and Sharp is the defending champion so both are expected to grace another podium tomorrow evening. But what is predicted on paper and what will actually happen on the track are two very different things. Laura Muir was tipped by many to bounce back from her Hampden heartbreak in Zurich, but her failure to qualify for the 1500m final suggested that the damage to her confidence could not be undone in a couple of weeks.

Child and Sharp may be carried on the crest of the wave to glory in Zurich. Winning another major medal in such close proximity to a Commonwealth Games has been a trick pulled off by very few Scottish athletes.

Team Scotland's performances at Glasgow 2014, mind you, proved that anything is possible.