Paris preview: Neil’s Eric Liddell Trophy link and Jake all set for 800m

Wednesday 31st July 2024

Neil Gourley with Eric Liddell Trophy for Scottish Schools best male performance back in 2012 – and winning British title in Manchester last month

Gourley in best shape to challenge – BBC Scotland website

Seb Coe once spoke about the decade of hard work required for an athlete (and coach) to become an ‘overnight sensation’.

The double Olympic champion, now the boss of World Athletics, laid out those views to Scottish Athletics more than five years ago and, if anything, the global craving for instant success has multiplied and intensified.

Yet cast a glance through the nine Scots picked for GB and NI for the Olympics and there are a number of those selected whose careers fit the slow-burning narrative.

Megan Keith and arguably Jemma Reekie might be exceptions but the likes of Laura Muir, Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman and Eilish McColgan all paid their dues.

So too has Neil Gourley. The Giffnock North AC athlete is preparing for his first Olympics at the age of 29 – almost two decades since he first pulled on a club vest.

Of course there have been highlights along the way including finals at the World Champs and a precious silver medal at the European Indoors (as well as Euro U23 bronze back in 2015).

What’s clear though is Neil is thrilled to be part of a cohort which had the likes of Muir in the vanguard a decade ago.

‘I’m often asked for a reason why the middle distances in Scotland are so strong,’ he said.

‘There’s not one good answer, because they’re from different training backgrounds and have come about it in different ways to get to similar levels.

‘I’ve been inspired by people that pioneered it like Laura Muir. Laura went out an proved we can compete at world class levels.’

Paris preview: Megan looks ahead with Highland help

Paris preview: Starting our countdown – Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie

Paris preview: Megan looks ahead with Highland help

Muir only really started winning Scottish medals at U20 and Neil was in his late teens, too, when he made some podium visits.

Memorably in Olympic year of 2012, he collected the Eric Liddell Trophy for the best male performance at the Scottish Schools – after 800m gold.

Fully a dozen years later there is a full circle feel about him heading to Paris a century on from Liddell’s glory in France.

‘If you told me when I was a young kid wearing the yellow Giffnock North vest for the first couple of years . . . well, I would not have believed you.

‘I suppose I had dreams and hopes and aspirations but the truth is back then I wasn’t always best in my age group in Scotland.

‘But somehow I kind of refused to take no for an answer throughout.

‘I kept making progress and I kept having more people believe in me. And the right people.

‘That support, that guidance, helped shape my journey. I feel lucky to have had that and I want to thank those people.’

Neil pulled clear of George Mills in Manchester to win an eagerly-awaited Men’s 1500m trial and a 3:30 run in Monaco since then bodes well for Paris.

‘I felt so good in the Trials I wanted to run another lap,’ he smiled.

‘To be honest with 150m left of the race I had such a gear left in me that I just knew I was going to cross the line first.’

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Jake Wightman celebrates silver in Munich two years after fine run in the Men’s 800m final (photo via Getty Iamges/European Athletics)

BBC Scotland piece on Jake

Jake Wightman does not regard the 800m as ‘a consolation’ as he prepares to compete at the Paris Olympics.

Most of the 30-year-old’s medal successes have come over 1500m, including his 2022 World Championship gold. However, he was a silver medallist over 800m at the 2022 European Championships.

‘I’ve been able to run well over 800m in the past, but not necessarily at championships because I’ve always been focused on the 1500m,’ he told BBC Scotland.

‘What I’ve wanted to do previously is double up if I could, but the depth of British Athletics means that we’re so good at both that it’s hard enough to make a team in one.

‘It’s not a consolation, it’s a good opportunity still to show that I can be competitive on the global stage over this distance.

‘I just had to change my approach to it a little bit because there are slightly different tweaks that you have to make going over half the distance.’