McColgan 'so happy' as she overcomes injury to secure place in Team GB

Monday 25 June 2012

Eilish McColgan has grown up hearing tales of mother Liz's accomplishments at every level on tracks around the world.

The sign says it all . . . Eilish McColgan celebrates victory in the 3000m steeplechase at the Olympic Trials. Picture: Jamie McDonald/Getty

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Pete Jamieson

Inevitably, it has cast a shadow over Eilish's career, but the 21-year-old is slowly constructing her own legend.

At the UK Athletics Championships in Birmingham yesterday, McColgan The Younger collected her first national title in the 3000 metres steeplechase. With the championships doubling as the Olympic trials, the Scot can now prepare for London.

McColgan's time of 9min 56.89sec was unspectacular, but given that she had been ill and unable to train over the past week, the sole target was achieving the required place in the top two. "There was a lot of pressure on her going into the race," admitted Liz in her duel capacity as proud mum and concerned coach. "She's got to learn how to perform when things don't go right for you."Barely nine months ago, McColgan was carried off the track at Crystal Palace with her foot broken and her ambitions stalled. As 2012 began, merely walking unaided was the primary goal. Things have progressed quicker than she could ever have hoped."At Christmas time I was on crutches and I couldn't walk," she said. "If someone said I'd be going to the Olympic Games this year I would just have laughed at them. It was so unrealistic back then. I was nowhere near even going out for a jog, never mind coming here. "I'm just so, so happy that I've been able to come through that and win this race."She will be joined in Team GB by Eilidh Child, who guaranteed her place by coming second in the 400m hurdles. Victory looked certain until she stuttered into the final barrier, a lapse in concentration that allowed Perri Shakes-Drayton to overhaul the Scot at the last. "Malcolm [Arnold, her coach] said to me, 'don't do anything silly, go out there, run and get in the top two'," she stated. "That's what I did. But it can be frustrating when you make mistakes like that."Lynsey Sharp was the other Scot to secure a UK title, delivering a scintillating burst to take the 800m ahead of Jemma Simpson. The 21-year-old from Edinburgh will be named today in the reduced British squad for this week's European Championships in Helsinki. Her Olympic place is less clear. The top two at the trials were guaranteed Games places if they held the A qualifying standard. Sharp's seasonal best is still more than a second outside, but she now has an exact target to earn her way to London: 1min 59 sec. "I still have it in me," she underlined. Two UK records fell yesterday with Holly Bleasdale raising her pole vault best to 4.71m and Shara Proctor leaping 6.95m to surpass Bev Kinch's long jump mark that had stood for 29 years. "I'm just on top of the world right now," Proctor proclaimed. "I got the British record, I'm going to the Olympics, how good can it get?" Behind her, Jessica Ennis, a winner in the high jump and 100m hurdles on Saturday, was a lowly sixth with a succession of off-keel attempts. "The past few competitions I've done a lot of no jumps," she said. "That's something we have to go away and work on a bit."Mark Dry will also go to the Europeans with his Olympic status uncertain after coming second in the hammer to Alex Smith, who threw 74.79m to help his own cause. The Scot still tops the rankings and has three more B standards than his rival but will be one of those sweating when the selection committee meets next Monday to fill the vacancies in the London squad. "I'm sort of in the driving seat, but I would have been in a stronger position if I'd won," said Dry. "If Alex throws another 74, I'm in a lot of trouble." Elsewhere, Gregor Maclean set a new Scottish pole vault of 5.35m in coming second to Steve Lewis, improving his own mark by 5cm.

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McColgan 'so happy' as she overcomes injury to secure place in Team GB

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