FEW could grudge Neil Gourley if he felt a tad hard done by this year. The 23-year-old has had the season of his life, establishing himself as one of Britain’s top 1500m runners, smashing his personal best, making his mark on the international stage with a bronze at the Athletics World Cup and finishing third in the British trials yet it was still not enough to see him make his senior major championship debut.
GB selection rules stated that the top two finishers at the British trials last month would be automatically selected for last week’s European Athletics Championships in Berlin while the third spot is left to the discretion of the selectors.
An impressive run by the Giffnock North athlete saw him finish in third place, a mere one hundredth of a second behind second-placed Jake Wightman but the selectors made the decision to leave Gourley at home and take Charlie Grice to Berlin instead.
It was, for a short period at least, a bitter pill for the Glaswegian to swallow but he didn’t allow himself to wallow in self-pity for too long.
“Initially, it was pretty hard to take. I felt like I’d done everything I could to put myself in the best position I possibly could to be selected but unfortunately, in the selectors eyes, it wasn’t enough,” he said.
“But I have a 48 hour rule where I feel a bit sorry for myself and let that all unfold but thereafter, once I’ve allowed myself that, I’ve always been pretty good at snapping out of it and using any setbacks as motivation.
“I’ve had plenty of disappointments in the past and I’d like to think that I’ve negotiated them pretty well and bounced back. So it’s just a case of using it as fuel for getting it right next time.”
Rather than harbour any feelings of bitterness, Gourley admits he avidly watched the championships and was cheering as loudly as anyone when his fellow Scot, Jake Wightman, came through to win an impressive bronze medal. And the strong showing of the Brits gives him encouragement that when his time comes in major championships, he will be ready to grasp the opportunity with both hands.
“I watched most of the Europeans - I’m not one of those people who would completely switch it off," he told Herald Sport."
I’m really good friends with Jake and Chris (O’Hare) so I was really willing them on and hoping they would do well. And I was so pleased for Jake to get that medal. It’s not as simple as if I beat them then I’d beat whoever they’re beating but if you’re consistently operating at the same level as the likes of these guys then it does give you confidence that if I’d been in that scenario, I could have equipped myself quite well. I’m pretty confident that if I’d been in Berlin, I could have been in that final mixing it up with those guys."
Gourley may have been at home watching the European Championships rather than being in the thick of things in Berlin but he could not allow himself to take the foot off the gas in terms of training as today, he will be lining up in the Emsley Carr Mile at the Birmingham Diamond League.
The Scot will be up against his compatriots Chris O’Hare and Charlie Grice as well as some of the greats of middle-distance running including New Zealander, Nick Willis and Kenya’s James Kiplagat. It would be understandable if Gourley was going into today’s race feeling like he has a point to prove to the selectors who failed to take him to Berlin but the Glaswegian is too mature to waste energy on those kind of emotions and instead, is keen to use today as another opportunity to race against a top-class field and use his European Championships disappointment as a driving force going forward.
“It’s a world-class field in Birmingham and the past couple of years, I haven’t had these kinds of opportunities,” he said.
“I’m just focusing on my run – I don’t feel like I’ve got a point to prove. I did everything I could be in that team back at the British trials so I have nothing to prove this weekend. So while I was disappointed about Berlin, I just want to use it as motivation to make sure that in the future, I don’t let the selectors have a role in whether I go to championships or not.
“If I’d been one hundredth of a second faster at the British Championships this would never have been an issue so that has to be the absolute goal and make sure I don’t leave it open to subjectivity again.”
Today is likely to be Gourley’s final outing in the UK this summer but his season is not quite over. Having recently graduated from Virginia Tech University, Gourley has decided to return to the States to continue his training although first, he has the privilege of competing in the Long Island Mile and the 5thAvenue Mile, both in New York. It is, he admits, a nice way to round off his year before getting his head down and working towards next season which, if he continues on the trajectory he is on, is likely to bring even greater success than this year did.
“Momentum is definitely a big thing – I wanted to come out of this year feeling like I’d accomplished quite a bit but there’s a still a lot more work to be done, I’m by no means the finished article,” he said.
“I’m planning on doing some altitude training for the first time ever – that’s something all high-calibre distance athletes do these days and it’s not something I’ve had the opportunity to do yet so I can add that into my arsenal of training tools. So I’m excited about things going forward.”
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