Zoey Clark admits she’s had to banish the fear of seeing the Tokyo Olympics wiped out by Covid to the back of her mind.
The world and European medallist, 26, gets only her second race in 16 months at today’s 4J Studios Invitational in Glasgow when she duels with GB&NI relay team-mate Beth Dobbin over 400 metres.
With the European Indoors still due to take place in Poland in four weeks time, there are targets to aim for, the Aberdonian confirms.
But there remains the real worry that five years of hard graft will end up being for nothing, she adds, if the Games are called off.
Clark said: “It is difficult. It’s a bit like last year again where you’re told it’s going ahead and you have to plan like it is and prepare. But at the back of your mind, you wonder if it will be possible. So having races like this is good to get ready for the long term. Hopefully Olympics will be ok and you want to make sure you have as many races as possible.
“We are taking this indoor season as chilled as possible. Obviously, for the Olympics, it would be good to get as many high-quality competitions as you can. So if the European indoors goes ahead, I’d like to do it and it would be a good option.”
The closed door meeting at the Emirates Arena, the second of two specially-approved competitions, will see 18 athletes take part over six events. Lynsey Sharp will line up in the women’s 800m, Guy Learmonth goes in the men’s 800, while Paralympic silver medallist Maria Lyle takes on Olympic relay hopeful Alisha Rees over 60m and world finalist Neil Gourley faces teen prospect Joe Ewing in the 1500m.
For Clark, with a first-class degree in chemical engineering in her kit bag, athletics now runs in parallel with a nascent career in the oil and gas industry in Aberdeen. And with so many disruptions over the past year, full-time employment has been a welcome distraction.
“I started work in September so what motivated me at the outset was to keep training, even though it was in fields, so I’d be in good shape when I eventually got access to a track,” she said.
“Then I got in, and was looking to be ready for competitions but that part never came off. Aberdeen went into a lockdown and we felt it wasn’t worth it to try to compete, just for my mental well-being. I did have a slump towards the end of the summer and that’s where having a job helped because I had something new in my life to focus on and give me some perspective. That helped me manage this whole weird situation.”
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