Eilish McColgan sees European silver lining after ‘absolute dream’ season

Eilish McColgan reflected on her “absolute dream” season after adding a European Championships silver medal to her Commonwealth Games double.

The Scot admitted to disappointment in the immediate aftermath of being beaten to the 10,000-metre gold medal by Turkey’s Yasemin Can in Munich on Monday night.

But she was soon able to see the bigger picture after claiming a third major medal inside the space of two weeks.

The 31-year-old won 10,000m gold and 5,000m silver at Birmingham around two weeks after finishing in the top 11 of both events at the World Championships in Oregon.

McColgan has now run four sub-31-minute 10,000m races on the track this year – double the amount that any other woman has achieved in the history of the event in any year.

The Dundee Hawkhill Harrier has also comfortably run under 31 minutes twice on the road in 2022, including her triumph at the Vitality London 10k.

She has also broken several Scottish, British and European records on the road and track this season, including Paula Radcliffe’s British half-marathon record.

McColgan said in an interview with Scottish Athletics: “If you had told me at the start of the year I would have had three medals from two of these championships, that would have been an absolute dream, I would have snapped your hand off.

“Honestly, I really couldn’t do much more. I’m proud of my efforts. I wanted to leave it all on the track and know there was not much more I could have done, and I feel like I’ve done that.

“Hopefully I have made everyone proud at home and it’s nice to come away with something – to come away with a medal is a bonus.”

After emulating her mother, Liz McColgan, with Commonwealth gold in the 10,000m, she now plans to make her marathon debut in London in October – 26 years after her mother won the same event.