'Hard to turn down' - Eilish McColgan on her Glasgow 2026 dilemma and doping spectre

The Dundonian athlete lit up the Alexander Stadium four years ago as she stormed to victory over 25 laps. In doing so she emulated her mother who won the 10,000m as Liz Lynch, her maiden name, at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh then retained her crown four years later in Auckland.

Her daughter has further followed in Liz McColgan’s footsteps by making the move to road running. She made her marathon debut in London in April and it is where she sees her future.

There will be no marathon at next summer’s Commonwealths in Glasgow, with the city staging a slimmed down version of the Games after stepping in at the last minute to host when the Australian state of Victoria withdrew due to rising costs.

It has left Eilish McColgan in a quandary but she admitted the pull of performing at a home games might persuade her to return to the track.

“Obviously I'm not qualified and I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know what the future holds but I think if it had been any other championship anywhere else in the world, I probably wouldn't be gearing towards it because my main ambitions now are certainly on the road,” said McColgan who was this week named as the first official ambassador for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. “But I think, for me, it's hard to turn down an opportunity to race in Glasgow, a home championship. How often do I get to do that?

“So yeah, I'll definitely be making it high on my agenda to try and be here as an athlete and compete.”

McColgan, 34, thought Birmingham 2022 was going to be her Commonwealth Games swan-song. As well as winning the 10,000m, she secured silver in the 5,000m. Not surprisingly, she feels it would have been a good way to say goodbye to the ‘Friendly Games’. But Glasgow’s late rescue mission has moved the goalposts and she could now find herself competing at the Commonwealths for a fourth time.

“It wasn't something I had originally planned in all honesty. It wasn't in my schedule. I thought Birmingham was a great way to cap off what was a brilliant track career but as I said, it's hard to turn down a home games opportunity.

“I think for me there's just something about being back in Scotland knowing that my family, my friends, people from the community, my club where I have grown up and who have supported me can be here to watch.

“Obviously there's a lot of pressure going in as a defending champion - it's not easy to defend it. I don't know many people who have but, yeah, I'll give it my best go.”

Mum Liz is one of the few to do the double and family is a huge driver for Eilish. She has fond memories of her late gran watching her Commonwealth Games debut when Glasgow last hosted in 2014 and would love to make more memories for those closest to her.

“The Commonwealths means a lot to my mum and it was probably one of the only races where my granny and grandad - her mum and dad - were in the stadium and were watching her win gold [in Edinburgh in 1986] and then similarly for me there's only been London 2012 and Glasgow and Birmingham, the home championships, where my mum and dad have been in the crowd.

“Glasgow 2014 was the only championships that even my granny came to watch. Unfortunately, my gran's no longer with us but that for me will always be a standout memory, my little granny in the stands with her little tartan beanie on her head cheering me on.

“There's something so unique about hosting home championships so I think my mum was really proud that I'm here today in an ambassadorial role showcasing how good the Commonwealth Games can be and the legacy that can leave behind.”

While Glasgow 2026 hovers on the horizon, Eilish sees her future as very much on the road. The four-time Olympian was the first Briton home at this year’s London Marathon as she finished eighth in the women's elite race on her debut. Her time of 2:24:25 was more than two minutes quicker than the Scottish record set by Steph Twell in 2019 (2:26:40) and also beat her mum's marathon best of 2:26:52.

“That is the priority now moving forward for me,” she said. “The next big one will be a half marathon in September and then to be honest I haven't actually planned any further than that just because I'm building back my training at the moment.”

Ruth Chepngetich, the women's marathon world record holder, had been scheduled to run against McColgan in London but the Kenyan was last week provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for a banned substance. It is a blow to the sport’s credibility and McColgan feels the authorities need to look beyond just the athlete involved.

“It is really disappointing. I think a lot of people now look at that and suspect that doping's rife within the sport. When the top, top person is doing it it is really disappointing but I think the agents and coaches need to be a little bit more responsible as well. I mean this isn't just Ruth doing this on her own.

“There's a deeper team involved here, whether there's coaches, doctors, agents… I think they need to be held responsible in some way.

“The ban is on the athlete but there needs to be something on the coaches and the people that are administrating this to try and cut it down. They're really having a big crackdown in Kenya at the moment which is amazing to see. Kenya Athletics, to be fair to them, have invested a lot of money in catching people and it is obviously clearly working which is great.”

One of McColgan’s first ambassadorial duties for Glasgow 2026 was to unveil the Games’ new mascot, Finnie, a unicorn named after the city’s famous Finnieston Crane, at an event to mark one year to go until the Games on Wednesday. The mascot was devised with the help of 76 children from 24 schools across Glasgow and its signature feature is a horn inspired by the famous traffic cone on top of the Duke of Wellington statue outside the Gallery of Modern of Art.

“I did like that, it's a very Glasgow touch,” said McColgan.

Despite its last-minute nature, she is certain Glasgow 2026 will attract some of the sport’s biggest names to Scotstoun, the venue for the athletics.

“I keep seeing people saying, ‘do you think the top people will show up?’ but your Laura Muirs, your Jake Wightmans, your Josh Kerrs, they're there all the time and I think there's something so unique about representing Scotland.

“We're very patriotic, we're a small nation but it's just special. We don't get the chance to do it very often so everyone does turn up. I remember Jake saying when he won the world championships: ‘I need to get myself ready now for the Commonwealth Games’.

“You think, you've just won the worlds, it's the biggest title there possibly could be, but for him, it was actually just equally as important that he made sure he got ready for the Commie Games.”