THEY say it is the journey, not the destination, that really matters.
For Lynsey Sharp, her journey to Glasgow 2014 has been long and arduous but, in reality, her toughest task is still ahead of her.
In 2012, the 24-year-old Scot had an almost dream year. She finished second in the 800 metres at the European Championships, although her silver medal was ultimately upgraded to gold after the winner, Yelena Arzhakova, was convicted of a doping offence. Selected for the London Olympics, where she reached the semi-finals, it was in the aftermath of that event that her woes began.
A lengthy string of injury problems significantly impacted her 2013 season and she left it right to the wire to secure qualification for Glasgow 2014. However, she appears to have timed her peak to perfection, running a personal best of 1min 59.67sec in Lausanne just four weeks ago.
The Commonwealth Games 800m will feature only two athletes who have run faster than Sharp - Kenyans Janeth Jepkosgei and Eunice Sum, the 2007 and 2013 world champions respectively - so a medal for the Scot is a realistic possibility.
When Sharp lined up for her heat at Hampden yesterday she appeared tentative, her only acknowledgement of the home crowd cheer being a shy smile when her name was announced. "I've kind of got out of the habit of waving [to the crowd], even though everyone was telling me 'you should wave, you should wave'," she said. "I just wanted to stick to my plan and get the job done."
Sharp's performance showed few signs of nerves, a comfortable run of 2:03.04 securing second position behind England's Jenny Meadows and a spot in tonight's semi-finals. "It felt good," she said. "Sometimes I'm not comfortable on the inside [of the bunch], but I knew that at that pace, people were going to drop back and I just tried to stay calm."
Sharp conceded that the past two years have not been easy for her and it was a relief to be running at Glasgow 2014 at all. "Every day, every meet, there's been some sort of obstacle. Even this morning, I woke up and I felt really sick. I don't usually get to the point where I feel sick [with nerves]. I woke up quite early and I had stayed up to watch Laura Muir [in the 1500m final], so that kept me awake."
The anticipated clash between Sharp and Muir will not happen now, following the latter's withdrawal from the 800m heats. Muir finished in a disappointing 11th position in the final of the 1500m on Tuesday night and consequently decided to save herself for the longer event in the European Championships, which begin in less than two weeks' time in Zurich.
Double Olympic champion Seb Coe told Herald Sport that his admiration for Sharp is, in large part, due to her ability to lift her performance at major championships. "I've matured a lot since London 2012 and I've done a few Diamond League's this year," added Sharp. "So we'll just see what happens here."
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