WHEN Neil Gourley lines up for the 1500m at this weekend’s Anniversary Games in London, it will be the strongest field he has ever faced.
And to add to that, the 23-year-old from Giffnock will be up against some of his heroes of the sport, men he grew up idolising such as Olympic medallist Matt Willis and former European champion, Marcin Lewandowski. But the Glaswegian is utterly unfazed at the prospect of going head-to-head with these big-guns, with his self-belief entirely justified considering his rise in recent months.
Gourley has been making his presence felt within British athletics for several years, including winning bronze at the European under-23 Championships three years ago, but it is 2018 in which he has made his real breakthrough.
And in the past few weeks in particular, Gourley has made a significant progress. Third place at the British Championships was quickly followed by a three-second personal best before the Scot won his first GB vest at the Athletics World Cup last weekend, claiming an impressive bronze medal.
These performances have filled the Scot with confidence and while he is relishing the chance to race against some of the greats of current 1500m running this weekend, he admits the thought of being up against men he has admired for years has something of a surreal feel to it.
“The Olympic champion Matt Centrowitz is running this weekend, and Nick Willis is one of my idols in the sport so I can’t wait to get out there,” said Gourley.
“I feel like I belong but at the same time, it’s pretty surreal to view guys I’ve looked up to as my adversaries now. I’ve always been okay at not getting star struck – I’ve learned over the years that you can’t give anyone too much respect, when you see them up close, you realise they’re just human like you.”
Gourley’s recent runs have strengthened his self-belief significantly and what is more encouraging is that he is confident there is more to come, starting with potentially another new personal best this weekend. “I’m really excited about the momentum I’ve built and it’s been a lot of fun making these breakthroughs,” he said.
“I’ve felt like I’ve been on the brink of this level for a little while so it’s been good to finally make the breakthrough and see the hard work pay off. I definitely feel like I’ve got more to come. And even this season, I think there’s still a couple of seconds more to come off my PB. The Anniversary Games is going to be ideal for running a new PB so that would be brilliant if I can.”
A good run in London is vital for Gourley. With the GB team for the European Championships announced next week, the Scot still has to convince the selectors that he should be included alongside automatic picks Jake Wightman and Chris O’Hare, with Gourley missing out on one of the two automatic selection spots at the British trials by a mere hundredth of a second.
He will be up against his main British rivals this weekend but with the Scot in pole position, another strong run should see him selected for his first major championship team.
“I just need to hope the selectors have faith in me and what I did at the trials,” he said.
“But I have a feeling that they’ll want to see what I do this weekend too. So I just need to rise to the occasion again and prove that I’m worth of that spot.”
Much of Gourley’s recent improvement is down to the time he has spent in America as a student at Virginia Tech University, from which he has just graduated. It is a set-up he intends to return to at the end of the season even though he has finished studying and certainly, if he is to fulfill his ambition of representing GB at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, as well as next year’s European Indoors in Glasgow and the Doha World Championships, he cannot afford for his improvement to slow down.
The current strength-in-depth of British 1500m running is quite astonishing, making selection for international teams an epic battle. But rather than complain about his predicament, Gourley is keen to embrace the competition and is quick to acknowledge how important it is for his continued development.
“I think a lot of people might complain about being a part of this era and that it’s so hard,” he said.
“This is the environment we need if we’re going to be successful. For a while in British 1500m running, you could be a big fish in a small pond but now, if you’re in the top three in the trials, you’re going to be competitive come the major championships.”
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