THE athletics season officially ends next weekend, and Commonwealth Games selection for Gold Coast next year looms. There are five weeks left to achieve qualifying standards, but few opportunities, save for marathoners.

It’s been a vintage year for track and field, with a record 16 Scots making Britain’s World Championship team in London – more then double the previous best – yet that won’t translate to bumper numbers for Gold Coast. A cap by the Commonwealth Games Federation means only 20 athletics places are available, and 22 Scots have achieved the qualifying standards.

Andrew Butchart, Jake Wightman, Eilidh Doyle, and Eilish McColgan have done so in more than one event. Technically they could double up, but that wouldn’t add to athlete numbers.

The problem would have been more acute had Laura Muir – qualified in three events – not opted out, due to veterinary exams. She’d have been one of Scotland’s few medal prospects.

Perceptions of an exceptional year are reinforced by 20 Scottish outdoor records set (subject to ratification), and 31 indoors: 51 for the year. Five years ago – pre-Glasgow 2014 – the figure was 26.

The class of 2017 have delivered some benchmark performances: Chris O’Hare writing out John Robson’s 37-year-old Scottish 1500m record; Eilish McColgan fourth in the Commonwealth at 5000m – highest ranked woman born outside Africa; NCAA 1500m gold for Josh Kerr; and European under-20 and Commonwealth Youth Games 1500m titles by Jemma Reekie and Erin Wallace.

Though numbers of those breaking into the all-time top 10 are not formally collated, statistician Arnold Black (www.scotstats.net) endorses my perception that numbers doing so this year are exceptionally high.

But will all this deliver an exceptional Commonwealth Games, and the stated target of most medals at an overseas Games?

The CGF cap does not help. In 2014, Team Scotland numbered 231 competitors in the 12 individual sports, and selection was based on achieving a top-eight ranking. That’s now top six.

The cap was imposed after Glasgow ran at more than 500 above the planned 6500 athletes and officials. Scotland can take just 123 competitors to Australia for 12 individual disciplines. That excludes team sports, weightlifting, and IPC competitors. The athletics squad at the last two overseas Games (Delhi and Melbourne) was 18 and 19 respectively.

Visually impaired Libby Clegg won athletics’ only gold in Glasgow 2014. She is now Paralympic 100 and 200m champion, but the hosts have excluded Clegg’s events, and the wheelchair disciplines in which Sammi Kinghorn is World and European champion. She is now attempting to qualify in the marathon. Para competitors are likely to number five at best, and are not part of Scotland’s 20 quota.

Only two Scottish athletes are in a medal position on current Commonwealth rankings: Chris Bennett (second, hammer) and Maria Lyall (second, Parasport 200m). There are, however, three in fourth place: Doyle (400m hurdles), O’Hare (1500m) and McColgan (5000m), plus several others in the top 10.

Roger Harkins, performance director at scottishathletics, is bullish about prospects, and discounts past Scottish failure in the southern hemisphere, pointing out that many athletes hope to contest the World Indoor in Birmingham a month before Gold Coast.

“In 2014 we got four medals,” he says. “Now the target is four or more, but I’m not pinning medals round athletes’ necks. I know they’re not going all the way to the Gold Coast for a holiday, or to make up numbers. They’re going because they have a self-belief that they can deliver.

“Plenty of athletes are brimming with confidence, and will step up their game. I’m not worried about Scottish athletes performing, and I’m not even going to put any pressure on them. They are delighted to be part of a British team, but are bubbling about the chance to express themselves in a Scottish vest. I have every confidence in them. They’re all highly motivated, and many are proven, having been to Rio and the Worlds in London.

“The key to good performance is not putting people under pressure. What I’m trying to do is facilitate what they need.”

Birmingham will give no competitive hammer or hurdles opportunity. However, scottishathetics has a budget to cope with that. “If the throwers, Bennett and Mark Dry, want competition, or Eilidh Doyle wants a couple of hurdles races, they can go out early. We will look after people who are able to deliver.”

Harkins is poacher turned gamekeeper, having coached Lee McConnell in Melbourne 11 years ago. “I was out there, getting no help,” he says. “I know what it’s like.” Now he’s part of the establishment.

“Last time in Australia, as an independent coach, I was fighting the establishment. Because I understand that, I feel I can objectively tell people if they are doing a good job, that I’m going to help them. But I have also told some athletes they are deluded, and not to come back until they are ready to do something. Some who have been through that process will be on the team in Gold Coast.

“I don’t have time to waste. I’ve a limited budget, and I must spend it wisely – target exactly where we’ll get the best return.

“I’m not interested in parties, celebrations, sunshine, hotels, I don’t think of the Games as a holiday. I’m in the trenches with the guys that are doing it. I understand what it takes to deliver performance.”