Wightman & McColgan receive Olympic calls

Eilish McColgan and Jake Wightman have been confirmed as two of nine Scots in Team GB’s athletics squad for the Paris Olympics.

Wightman, 29, has been given a discretionary pick for the 800m after sitting out the British trials because of a calf injury.

The 2022 world champion over 1500m missed out in his favoured event, with fellow Scots – current world champion Josh Kerr and new British champion Neil Gourley – taking two of the three available places.

McColgan has been chosen to run the 10,000m selection despite a season troubled by injury.

The 33-year-old, who is the British record holder, won 10,000m gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and followed that with European silver.

It will be a fourth Olympics for McColgan, who will be joined over the same distance by compatriot Megan Keith.

“I have always prided myself in having a good 800m – it is probably my favourite of the two because I don’t race it as much and there is not as much pressure perhaps,” Wightman said.

“It is nice I am actually going to a championships with the chance to show what I can do over 800m with a full build-up towards that, because normally I am focussing on 1500m work whereas now I can get ready for the shorter distance.

“I want to prove I am as good at that event as I have been at 1500m, and in a championship when you have got to run three 800m in four days, if you have got a bit more endurance like myself it should be an advantage.”