What we do works: Scottish athletes have landed medals at 11 of last 12 Championships

Thursday 23rd July 2026

Josh Kerr celebrates World Indoors gold in Poland in March (photo British Athletics via Getty Images)

Josh wins World Indoors gold – BBC Sport coverage

Scottish athletes have stepped on the podium at 11 of the last 12 major track and field championships.

Josh Kerr’s gold medal at the World Indoors in Poland in March – his third world title and fifth global medal – extended the current purple patch.

Looking further back at the sequence of major events reveals at least one or more Scots have won medals at 17 of the past 20 athletics championships.

This record over four years covers Olympics, Worlds, European and Commonwealths and across both indoor and outdoor editions of Worlds and Europeans.

Across those 20 championships, there have been Scottish finalists (top eight finishes) in ALL of those major events.

In Para events, Scottish athletes are punching well above their weight, too, with nine medals won across the last two global Para events. Samantha Kinghorn and Ben Sandilands are current Paralympic champions.

It is a stunning series of achievements led by the likes of Josh. The 11 out of 12 sequence in mainstream events runs back four years to the World Champs of summer 2022 when Jake Wightman won Men’s 1500m gold in Eugene and Laura Muir won Women’s 1500m bronze.

No wonder David Ovens, Chair of scottishathletics, has insisted track and field is Scotland’s most successful sport in a global context.

‘Athletics is clearly Scotland’s most successful sport at the moment and, in my opinion, has been for the past decade or so,’ said David.

‘There’s a range of factors that go into athletics being such a strong and successful sport but, from my perspective, the most important thing is that the foundations are really solid so it develops from there.’

Laura Muir and Jake Wightman with their World Champs medals in 2022

Wightman looks a medal contender for the Commonwealth Mile in Glasgow and the European Championships in Birmingham shortly thereafter. He has won bronze for Team Scotland at the last two Commonwealth Games over 1500m.

‘We all want to show how good this period is for Scotland,’ said Jake in a recent interview (Athletics Weekly).

‘I think in theory then athletics should be the national sport because if you look at the percentages of medals at global champs from Scottish athletes, surely we as a sport are ridiculously high compared to any other sport. Sometimes I don’t think that is appreciated.

‘Come the Commonwealth Games there is a chance to showcase that and show the average viewer, who doesn’t watch athletics generally, us competing in Scotland vests.

‘I feel it is a chance for us to give back for what Scotland does for us. We have been produced by the clubs and the (athletics in Scotland pathway) system here. Glasgow 2026 gives us the chance to show how good a job they did around the opportunities we were given as kids to be able to get to the point we are at today.’

scottishathletics firmly believes everyone in the sport has a role to play in the pathway.

‘Looking back at the history of Scots winning medals in major championships puts into context the phenomenal achievements of this crop of athletes on the global stage,’ said Colin Hutchison, chief executive of scottishathletics.

‘The consistency with which they have delivered in major championships is unprecedented and huge credit needs to go the athletes, their coaches, families, clubs and others that have supported their development in the sport.’

Our Team Scotland 4x400m Women won bronze at Birmingham 2022 (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Scots land medals at 11 out of 12 Champs

2026 World Indoors in Torun: Josh Kerr gold

2025 World Champs in Tokyo: Jake Wightman silver

2025 World Indoors in Nanjing: Neil Gourley silver

2025 European Indoors in Apeldoorn: No medals

2024 Olympics in Paris: Josh Kerr silver; Nicole Yeargin bronze (two)

2024 European Champs in Rome: Megan Keith bronze

2024 World Indoors in Glasgow: Josh Kerr gold, Jemma Reekie silver

2023 World Champs in Budapest: Josh Kerr gold; Nicole Yeargin bronze (two)

2023 European Indoors in Istanbul: Laura Muir gold, Neil Gourley silver

2022 European Champs in Berlin; Laura Muir gold, Jake Wightman and Eilish McColgan silver, Eilish, Nicole Yeargin and Zoey Clark bronze

2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham: Laura Muir and Eilish McColgan gold; Eilish, Sean Frame silver; Laura, Samantha Kinghorn, Jake Wightman and Women 4x400m bronze (Zoey, Nicole, Beth Dobbin, Jill Cherry)

2022 World Champs in Eugene: Jake Wightman gold, Laura Muir bronze