Neil Gourley insists he’ll be swinging for gold at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul this evening after seeing how fellow Scot Jake Wightman developed a knockout punch.
The Glaswegian, 28, was the quickest qualifier for the men’s 1500m final by winning his semi-final yesterday in 3:41.08. Fresh from smashing the British record six days ago, he’ll now take his shot at wresting the title away from Olympic champion and hot favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
And Gourley claims watching how Wightman stunned the Norwegian to secure the world championship crown last summer has him ready to join him as a major winner.
“I’m trying to get to that level,” he said. “I identify a lot with what Jake Wightman did after the Olympics when he realised he just aerobically wasn’t strong enough to live with the way the 1500 is being run right now.
"And I’ve had the same sort of realisations. There’s no real point in being one of the better 800m runners or the better closers if you can’t hang on to the race itself. And that’s what we’ve been working so hard on this year to get aerobically stronger, in order to live with the pace that will be demanded off me when I take on the likes of Jakob. And we’re starting to see the rewards of that.”
Guy Learmonth, meanwhile, confessed he almost blew up his own hopes before moving into tomorrow’s men’s 800m semis from third place in his opening heat. The Borderer, 30, was passed by Javier Miron and Amel Tuka after leading until the closing straight. But a time of 1:47.51 was enough – just – to see the 2015 finalist beat the cut.
“I feel good but I feel that I just let my foot off the gas, stupidly,” Learmonth said. “Everything is drilled into me over that last 70 metres to just to try keep powering through. I got caught off guard, so I will make sure that doesn’t happen in the semi.”
Defending champion Keely Hodgkinson eased into tomorrow’s women’s 800m semis with victory in her heat in 2:01.67 with team-mate Issy Boffey also moving through. Hannah Nuttall and Melissa Courtney will go for medals in tonight’s women’s 3000m final while Morgan Lake cleared 1.91m to reach Sunday’s high jump final.
