British 10,000m record-holder opens up about her comeback from injuries and what she hopes to get out of the Paris Olympics

Eilish McColgan is definitely not a stranger to the Olympics.

After securing a spot in the 10,000m for Paris 2024, she became the first Scottish athlete to qualify for four consecutive Games.

At London 2012, a then 21-year-old McColgan competed in the 3000m steeplechase but didnt make it out of the heats.

McColgan was 13th in the 5000m at Rio 2016 and then decided to double up in both that distance and the 10,000m at Tokyo 2020.

The Brit failed to get out of the heats in the 5000m and then finished an impressive ninth in the 10,000m final.

This time McColgan is focusing on the 10,000m and, for her, making the start line has been an achievement in itself.

Last September, McColgan had surgery on a knee injury and spent the following three weeks in crutches. The 33-year-old then underwent rehabilitation and returned to the track for the first time in over a year at the European Championships in June.

Sadly for McColgan, she failed to finish the race and reveals that she didnt feel well, adding that she was sick the next day after the race.

Just a few weeks after her European expedition, McColgan competed in the Huis & Hypotheek Stadsloop Appingedam event in the Netherlands, clocking 31:52 over 10km on the roads.

It was really just finding a race where I could get around without having any problems at all, she adds. It put me in a position where I then had something like five-and-a-half to six weeks until Paris and I knew then I would just go straight into training.

Ive had this huge block of training from then right up until now and thats served me really well. I think even mentally I just needed to finish a race to know, yep, bodys good!'

Her journey from the operating theatre to the Stade de France is remarkable and one that potentially looked unlikely just under a year ago. The Brit states that one doctor told her that shed be lucky to ever run again.

Ive had doctors say to me theres no chance, McColgan says. In the back of my mind, I always thought, that just doesnt make sense to me. Im not someone whos done high mileage for like 30 years of her life and I look after myself and my bodys always been relatively healthy.

Im in my 30s, Im not in my 60s. I still believe I can compete at this level. Theres perhaps probably other people have thought no, its not possible, but Ive always had that sort of belief that it might take a while but Ill get back there. Thats sort of where Im at now. Im starting to believe again.

Id say even just the last three weeks Im like, okay, Im getting there again. I can see it coming together. For a lot of people, the Olympics is going to be like their end of season. Theyll go off partying and off on their holidays.

For me, its the complete opposite. Hopefully I can have a few more races after Paris, most likely on the roads, because theres not a huge amount of track left. Its a bit of a flipped season for me, which is a bit unusual.

Two years ago McColgan had the greatest season of her career so far, emulating mum Liz to become Commonwealth 10,000m champion in Birmingham and claiming European 5000m bronze and 10,000m silver in Munich.

McColgan then planned to make her debut over 26.2 miles at the 2022 London Marathon but she had to pull out of the October race due to rebound hypoglycaemia refuelling problems.

The Brit overcame that and started 2023 in fine form, breaking Paula Radcliffes 21-year-old British 10,000m record of 30:01.09 at The Ten in California. She also ran a UK half-marathon record of 65:43 in Berlin.

However, McColgan withdrew from the 2023 London Marathon due to a knee injury and struggled for months to get it properly diagnosed a frustrating period where days and weeks on the sidelines soon turned into months.

Following the sudden unexpected death of her stepfather John Nuttall in November and the passing of her grandmother Betty in May, McColgan has had to battle through a lot both on and off the track.

Yeah, its definitely been a challenge, McColgan says. I think it was probably fortunate that the very start of 2023 continued on that sort of good trajectory. I think maybe if I hadnt had those moments in 2023, I may have looked at the year a little bit differently but they were like a little bit of a dangling carrot that gave me the opportunity to think: Well, I still had the start of a good season.

I still believed then I was capable of getting faster. So yeah, its obviously difficult to have one of your best years and then a sort of an injury-filled year. But as I said, I think those two races gave me that little bit of motivation just to keep going. And I think thats what youre seeing now and why Im still here, still fighting and coming back round now into good shape again.

McColgans British 10,000m record still places her second on the European all-time list behind Sifan Hassan, with the pair meeting in the Olympic final.

The Brit is aware that the global competition for medals is extraordinarily high but is just keen to run her own race and adapt to the pace of the 10,000m in Paris.

I feel like training is indicating that were getting down back to that shape [getting close to her personal best], she says. But with it being a championship race, its obviously a completely different ball game. So for me, I think a realistic goal would be to be competitive against the other European athletes.

That would be the sort of level that Im probably targeting at the moment. Its obviously still nowhere near the medals but Im getting closer and closer every week in training. As I said, if I can get back down to the low 30 minutes, Id be pretty happy with that.

One athlete who is aiming to follow in the footsteps of McColgan is Megan Keith, who makes her Olympic debut in Paris and qualified with a stunning 30:36.84 at the The Ten, the same venue in which McColgan recorded her British record.

That put Keith fourth on the UK all-time list behind McColgan, Paula Radcliffe and Jessica Warner-Judd.

McColgans advice to Keith is just to enjoy the Olympic experience and that you shouldnt feel like an intruder because you 100% deserve to be there.

I think maybe for me it was a little bit different with being a home games that brought an even bigger pressure element to it because it was so,  well, just crazy, McColgan says. The media was huge and everything around was just completely different to anything Id experienced before.

Id say a lot of the youngsters go in and actually enjoy being in this environment because it is completely different and not like a World/European Championships. The athlete village is mad. Its so overwhelming. Youre having dinner next to Andy Murray or LeBron James and those kind of things are just bizarre.

Maybe take the 48 hours after your race to actually soak in the Olympics and try and actually take in some of that experience because I think a lot of people are so performance, performance, performance orientated and thats it. Hopefully its the first of many for our youngsters.

Is Paris 2024 McColgans last Olympics?

The Brit is still likely to move to the roads at some point and the marathon at the LA 2028 Games could be the best option in four years time.

McColgan will be 37 at that point but believes that, due to more knowledge and technology, athletes can now peak in their mid to late 30s.

I dont feel like Im anywhere near finishing things, she states. You look at the likes of Sara Hall, Keira DAmato and Sinead Diver and theyre so inspiring. I think the more and more you see these women, theyve been able to have family, have kids, come back and still keep going. They are not even thinking about retiring any time soon.

I have absolutely no doubt that its gonna be difficult and it can be more challenging as you get older. You have to adapt your training. You have to change things perhaps a little bit more recovery, less intensity but thats probably what marathon training is more geared towards and its probably why you see a lot of older athletes in the marathon because it is less intense.

On the track youre doing the fast reps in your spikes but on the roads you are getting the added benefit of wearing the super-shoes with the added foam and carbon plates.

So its definitely giving a little bit of longevity to peoples careers You just dont have this natural mental barrier of age, which I think a lot of people had before.