LYNSEY Sharp savoured the backing of her home crowd last night as she competed in Scotland for the first time since claiming that epic silver medal at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. But one voice of support meant a little bit more to her than the others.

As she hit the apex of the final bend en-route to a second placed finish over 800m in a time of 2.02.39 behind Latvia’s Liga Velvere, she sensed the presence of her boyfriend Andy Butchart. The distance runner, clad in a moon boot after breaking his foot racing in New York, is putting the disappointment of missing the Gold Coast behind him but Sharp said she was so cut out about it at first that it was even threatening her own preparation for the showpiece.

“It has definitely been a rough couple of weeks,” said Sharp, her voice cracking with emotion. “I took it a lot worse than he did, but that is just the sort of person he is. Andy will always just push on, and not show that he is hurting, but I was definitely a lot more emotional about it. 

“It was the week of Boston - Andy found out on the Monday that he had broken his foot, and on Tuesday I couldn’t finish my session,” she added. “On the Friday before the race I couldn’t even do my warm-up. I thought there is no way I can race. But Terrence managed to come in on the Friday night and get me into a place that I could! We are human and there was so much invested in the next few months that it was heart-breaking for both us. But at the end of the day it is just a job, so you have just got to get on with it. He is totally behind me. I could hear him on the top bend yesterday shouting. It meant a lot that he was there. He still wants to come out to Australia too, which says a lot. But my priority is him recovering. Maybe he can push it back for a couple of weeks and just come out to watch me compete.” 

Sharp, who got the better of her emerging countrywoman Mhairi Hendry – the 21-year-old warmed up for her participation in the World Indoors with a sixth place finish in 2.04.28 – said it had "meant a lot" to be back in Glasgow but was still learning when it comes to running indoors. “I would have loved to have done the World Indoors – but I’m not quite there yet,” she said. “It always takes me like 20 races to get into a season!”

Eilidh Doyle will also be in action in Birmingham this week and there was a further illustration of the 31-year-old's form as she aims to augment her whopping medal collection. While she couldn’t replicate last week's sub-52 second performance from the British trials here, she was content with a second place behind reigning World Champion Phyllis Francis in a time of 52.38. And no wonder, considering that meant finishing ahead of reigning Commonwealth champions Stephenie Ann McPherson of Jamaica and her long time 400m hurdles nemesis Kaliese Spencer. “I didn’t know how much I had left in me after a hard weekend," said Doyle. "I knew Phylis was ahead of me going into the break but I thought I'd put a wee surge in, get to the break first and make it harder for her. I’m happy with how I’ve performed. It was really competitive – that’s what I’ll face at the Worlds."

Jake Wightman, who will vie with his countryman Chris O’Hare over 1500mthis week, used a rare outing over 800m to work on sharpness. He ran a PB of 1.47.69 in third behind top class Polish pairing Adam Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski in an event which he plans to double up at in the Gold Coast. “I see myself as an 800 and 1500 runner, not just 1500," he said. "This sharpened me up a bit for the  Worlds and I’m not sure I’ll have the chance to run another 800 before the Gold Coast.”

Elsewhere, Grant Plenderleith ran 47.28 in fifth in the 400m, his second PB in a week. There was a season’s best and personal best for Steph Twell and Jemma Reekie respectively in the 1500m while Maria Lyle, Amy Carr and Abbie McNally all ran PBs in the women’s 60m T37-38 and Nikki Manson jumped 1.84 in the high jump. Tom Bosworth strode to a world record of 10.30.28 for the 3km walk, but Greg Rutherford was making gloomy noises about the idea of participating in Birmingham after a jump of 7.89m and a fourth placed finish in the long jump. “It doesn’t look good at the moment to be totally honest," he said. "I am not there to make up numbers - I am there to win medals."