Eilish McColgan: “It was a special moment and I just wanted to give her a big hug”

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The Brit opens up about ‘that moment’ with Megan Keith at the Olympics, returning to the half-marathon and aiming to make her 26.2-mile debut in 2025

Eilish McColgan has described embracing Megan Keith at the end of the Olympic 10,000m final as a “special moment”.

The British pair stood alone on the track at the Stade de France as McColgan, who ran 31:20.51 for 15th place in Paris, waited for Keith to finish.

McColgan was competing in her fourth Olympics – a record number for a Scottish athlete – and spotted that Keith, who was making her debut at the Games, was having a tough time over 25 laps.

McColgan

With Keith cheered on by a rapturous crowd, McColgan waited until the end and hugged her team-mate as soon as she crossed the finish line.

The image of the pair went viral and McColgan, chatting to AW ahead of her return to the Big Half on Sunday (September 1), states that she didn’t even realise the public reaction was that big until she was told by her family.

Not only did the image embody the Olympic spirit but both athletes had overcome enormous challenges to even get to that point.

Keith had nursed an ankle injury a few weeks before the Games and McColgan herself went into Paris off the back of knee surgery last September.

McColgan, who wishes the Olympics were a couple of months later and believes that her performance in Paris didn’t fully reflect her fitness level, still maintains that “making the start line was my gold medal”.

Now attention turns to the roads.

The Brit, unlike most others at the Games, essentially begins her season and has a block of domestic races coming up that includes the Big Half, Great North Run (September 8) and Vitality London 10,000 (September 22).

McColgan’s aim, ahead of her likely debut over 26.2 miles next year, is to get the “half-marathon ticked off” – her first over the distance since the beginning of last season – and that “it’s now part of my mental process to forget about the injury”.

Here’s our Q&A with McColgan below:

Is there an element of ‘fear of the unknown’ with a first half-marathon in over a year and a half? 

Racing again makes all of those months of hard training and coming back from surgery worthwhile. The half-marathon is definitely at the top end of my distances at the minute. After surgery I had almost six months of no running at all and started from scratch. I knew that I’d run out of time to do a marathon this year and it’d be tight to even get ready for the 10,000m on the track. My fitness wasn’t totally where I liked it to be at the Olympics but I’ve made huge improvements since the European Championships.

My training programme is pretty much back to normal but a few months ago it was stop-start all the time and a bit of a nightmare. So there’s a little bit of the unknown, even mentally, at the Big Half. It’s been over a year and a half since I’ve done a half-marathon and it’s now part of my mental process to forget about the injury.

Why did you decide to do this block of Big Half, Great North Run and Vitality 10,000? 

Coming back from surgery, you spend so many months rehabbing and you’re cross-training your absolute nuts off. You think during that time, what’s the reason? For me it was amazing to go to the Olympics but I run because I love it and I race because it’s a passion. It’s a hobby and yes it’s a job as well. Racing is the enjoyable part.

READ MORE: Great North Run line-ups

Could I go away now and train for four months to get ready for next year? Yes I could. But I just feel like I deserve to enjoy the sport as well and at this point in my career, running in the UK is scarce. It’s so fun and I want a racing block after the many months of training, That then puts me in a great position for next season. I’ll still have some time off in the winter but at least it gives me a really good starting point and a platform.

What’s the definition of success for you over the next few races? 

When I think back to my British records of 30:00.86 [10,000m] and 65:43 [half-marathon], I know the training that I did to achieve those and I know it wasn’t plain sailing. So there’s more there and that’s a bit of a dangling carrot. I know I can go sub-30 minutes and I also believe I can run 64 minutes over the half-marathon. They keep me motivated. It may not happen this year, just because of the time that I’ve had off, but next season it’s a huge motivating factor.

If I can get a good run out at these races against strong British fields then that’ll give me a great starting point. I can go “that’s the half-marathon ticked off” and get closer to those longer term-goals.

In the time you’ve been out, what’s the biggest thing you’ve learnt about yourself?

It’s probably that I really enjoy racing and that I’m a competitor. I can elevate my game when it comes to races and competitions but I’ve got to be fit to do that! Even now in my 30s and having been in the sport for as long as I have, I still believe I can really improve. Years back you’d think people in their 30s have no chance of doing that but I’ve had a glimmer of that and noticed signs in training. So that’s a big motivating factor to me.

When you’re doing boring stuff like aqua jogging for example – hours of that in the pool every single week – you do it for a reason. You still believe that there is something there and it’s about keeping on going.

I look up to a lot of the marathon runners like Sara Hall, Keira D’Amato and Sinead Diver. They’re still competing at such a high level and it’s given me a lot of reassurance. My 1500m runner days are definitely over on the track but there’s certainly still a future in the marathon.

With the Tokyo 2025 World Championships being in September, does that make it easier to map out the year?

Definitely. I’m probably going to learn what I did in previous years and not put all my eggs in one basket. I was so determined to do the London Marathon and it was the be all and end all. I would absolutely love to do that race – pacing it was incredible – and I can’t even imagine what it would be like to do it for real. There’s no doubt that’s up there and a priority.

However, I put so much pressure on myself and it was like there was nothing else going on apart from the London Marathon. I need to be a bit more open minded so that doesn’t happen again and I realise there are other opportunities. One of the best things about road racing is you do have a bit more time and choice. When you’re on the track, you’ve got the Olympics and Worlds. If you’re sick on the day of your competition then it’s game over and you’ve done so much training to get to that point.

If I missed the London Marathon for example then I can still go to Berlin, Chicago, Boston, Tokyo or New York. Plus there are so many other events. So it’s for me realising I’ll only do a marathon when my body is actually ready. I’ll do it fast and properly.

With the marathon being top of the agenda next season for me, that could also mean the Worlds. If it fits my agenda then great but if not, then I have a 10,000m as a back up plan. You’ve seen that with the likes of Sifan Hassan and Hellen Obiri.

What did you make of Sifan Hassan becoming Olympic marathon champion and also winning medals in the 5000m and 10,000m? 

It’s pretty inconceivable. I never ran anywhere near as fast as she did in the Olympic 10,000m final and I could barely walk for the next two days! So I don’t understand how you can go from a 10,000m with one day rest and then win the marathon. It’s insane.

Her coach Tim [Rowberry] must’ve known she was capable of doing it from training. When a coach notices something, sometimes they believe it more than you. I’m sure she won’t even be finished and is preparing for another marathon this year. I doubt she’ll be on holiday anytime soon!

How do you reflect on your Olympic experience in Paris? 

If the Olympics was two to three months later then I’d have been much happier and in a much better place. I dropped out in Rome and then got sick, so the end of June to the Games wasn’t enough time for me to be competitive at the top end. In a dream world I’d have been back in PB shape and been at the front in the latter stages of the race.

I was also so race rusty. I needed the training because of so little time so I was a little flat when it came to the Olympics. I didn’t have my usual 5km races to get my legs going. I don’t think the result in Paris actually reflected the fitness level I was in. Maybe I could’ve gone out harder and I actually think that would’ve suited me more. It’s what I did at the Commonwealth Games and when I set my British 10,000m record.

Mentally I was still in a protective mode from the knee and I didn’t want to be leading the Olympics after having a year and a half out with injury! It didn’t seem sensible. In that sense, making the start line was my gold medal as we didn’t think it was possible for a long time.

Eilish McColgan [L] in Paris (Getty)

What was that amazing moment with Megan Keith like at the end of the 10,000m? 

I didn’t realise the moment went viral as I didn’t have my phone. It was only when Michael [Rimmer] was saying that picture went everywhere online. I remember crossing the line and was wondering where and how Megan was. I knew she was having a tough day. I’ve been there plenty of times where I’ve had the dreaded DNF. So I was proud of Megan for not stopping as it’s the Olympics and no one wants to pull out.

When she crossed the line she had a sense of relief she’d done it. She told me that “are they cheering for me?” because the noise of the crowd was just insane. I remember looking round and all the other runners had gone. I didn’t realise until later what a special moment that was as it was just the two of us experiencing that noise.

I just said to Megan that “the crowd is cheering for you” and she stated “if I stopped then I wouldn’t be able to call myself an Olympian”. So she thought she needed to finish the race and I totally respect that because I have the same mentality. It was a special moment and I just wanted to give her a big hug. Sport gives you so many highs and lows and I’m sure Megan will have plenty more moments to come in her career.

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