Eilish McColgan’s amazing 2022 .

A record haul of track medals in 2022

When you are having a purple patch, everything seems to be going your way. 2022 was very much a record year for Scotland’s Eilish McColgan. Four Championship medals at both 10,000 metres and 5,000 metres at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Munich Olympic Championships.

A record year on the roads in 2022 for Eilish McColgan

Eilish achieved four Scottish road records at 5km(14:45) 10km(30:19) 15km(47:40) and half marathon (1:06:26).

She raced four 10k races on the track and four 10k’s on the road. Apart from her road 10kin the UAE in December, all were inside 31 minutes. 

In this post, I have a brief look at those 10k’s especially the 4 track races three of which were major championships with 31 days

Two road 10k’s in May

On the road in May Eilish ran a 30:23 at the Vitality London 10k on May 2nd. She followed this up with a 30:19 clocking at the Great Manchester Run on May 22nd. 

Taking to the track at Hengelo

Taking to the track she then recorded her fastest 10,000 metre track time of the year in her first effort at Hengelo, Holland, on June 6th, clocking an impressive 30:19. This moved her to second in the all-time GB rankings behind Paula Radcliffe’s British record of 30.01. With the race acting as an Ethiopian trial for the World Championships in Oregon later in the summer and also featuring some other Africans, I am sure Eilish was expecting a competitive race and looking for a fast time. When the Ethiopians set off fairly cautiously almost watching each other, she was having none of that and front ran the race hitting halfway almost dead on 15 minutes with Radcliffe’s GB record possibly achievable. Slowing slightly in the second half but still running a solo 15:19 s to win comfortably from her opposition

You can see the full Hengelo Results HERE

Moving onto Oregon

The World Championships in Oregon saw the start of Eilish competing in 3 major championships in 31 days.

I don’t think many coaches would deliberately plan that racing schedule, but with Oregon having been postponed from 2021 due to the pandemic rescheduling, that was how it panned out. When you also consider Eilish ran the 5000 metres at all three championships (including a heat in Oregon) it seems almost more impressive.

At the strong field assembled for the World Championships on the 16th of July, Eilish placed 10th with 30.34 after a 5km split of 15:19. She also ran 15:03 for 11th in the 5,000 final.

Commonwealth Games 10,000

Fast Forward just 3 weeks to Birmingham and the Commonwealth Games on August 3rd, and that memorable victory over Irine Chapati. Although at 30:48 it was her slowest 10k of the summer, it was the one everyone in Britain will probably remember most and captured the attention of the wider British public beyond the Athletics Family. With halfway reached in a modest 15:38, the pace gradually would up in the second half with a serious negative split. Along with a second 5k of 15:08, her final 3k in 9:02 was her fastest closing 3k of all her track races in 2022, capped off with a final km of 2:51 to clinch the Commonwealth title in that breathtaking final 2 laps. 

As if that wasn’t enough, 3 days later she returned to the track to clock her fastest 5,000metres of the summer, taking the silver medal behind Kenya’s Beatrice Kebet in 14:42

If you haven’t read Alex Jackson’s wonderful story, “Tale of two cities and one iconic Scottish track family” recounting his links with both Mum Liz’s victory in Edinburgh in 1986 and Eilish’s win in Birmingham in 2022, you can read it on the Scottish Athletics website

On to Munich

The European Championships in Munich just 12 days later and a 30.41 (15:22 at 5km) clocking earned her a splendid silver medal behind Turkey’s Yasmine Can. Not done with that, 3 days later she took to the track to take Bronze in the 5,000m in 14:59, again being beaten by Can and the local favourite Konstance Klosterhalfen. 

In that sense, you could say the stars aligned well for Eilish McColgan in 2022. 

Moving up in distance

Eilish had planned to run an autumn marathon. Her two half marathons of the year, a 66:26 clocking in the United Arab Emirates in February and a 67:35 at the Greenwich half on September 4th, auger well for her marathon debut.

She decided to postpone that until London in April 2023. The endurance base built over the last few years has certainly enabled her to fulfil the workload to produce consistent top-class performances on the road and the track. You would not bet against her continuing her purple patch through to the New Year, and making a serious impression on the alltimeGB women’s marathon rankings. What tome she could achieve over 26.2 miles I will leave, for now, to the “fantasy athletic fans” to ponder and predict.

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