THINGS may be about to start getting complicated for Andy Young. That is because, all going well, this weekend could signal a new phase in the relationship between Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie, two of the key components of the remarkable Glasgow-based training group which has been turning so many heads amongst the athletics fraternity.
Designing meticulous programmes in order to help two of his star pupils achieve startling incremental gains in their training sessions at the Emirates Arena is one thing; having to design bespoke tactical plans for both of them in the event that they compete in the same European final is quite another.
Yet that could well be the scenario a week tonight. If the 20-year-old Reekie, a new British champion in the 1500m, is back to her best after an untimely recent illness, she will hope to gatecrash the Glasgow podium along with her pal and training partner.
“At the moment it is pretty much okay but no, I’ve not really been in this situation very often,” admits Young. “The two Scots are probably in slightly different places in terms of the pecking order of the race itself.
“Laura would obviously be going for the win – her main objective will be to get the medal and specifically make it gold,” he explains. “Then when it comes to Jemma she is more specifically trying to get as close to a medal as she can – or get a medal. So it is a slightly different perspective on things. It calls for different tactics.
“And it probably works out a little bit better for Jemma right now,” added Young. “Because she can find out to an extent about Laura’s tactics, then that can kind of filter that back into her race.
“If they were a bit closer then it would make it a bit more of a dilemma but for the moment while there is still a few places between them it is okay.”
To be fair, Young isn’t the only man coaching Scots in the GB & NI team who finds himself in the same situation. Terrence Mahon has both Andy Butchart and Chris O’Hare on the start line for the 3,000m.
The pair are great friends but they will also be determined to do the best for each other in a race which will feature no fewer than three of the fearsome Ingebritsen clan from Norway.
As for Young, in the future he may also have to juggle race plans for impressive young athletes like Erin Wallace, Kerry MacAngus and Gabriella Stafford of Canada.
“Basically, it is about giving them both tactics specifically tailored around them, but trying not to tell each one of them what the other’s tactic is” he says. ”So I guess it is a bit of a complication. Especially when you throw the likes of Gabriella in there as well at certain events in the future.
“They are all slightly different places and to an extent they will all know from training where they stand and who or what they have to factor into their own plans.
“With Laura and Jemma, there is a bit of a difference in age as well. Jemma’s time may really come another championship or two down the line,” he added. “I might have to come up with a different formula then.”
Considering how impressive Reekie was in claiming that 1500m title in Birmingham a fortnight ago, it was a tough break for her to succumb to the illness which saw her mothballed last week for the Muller Indoor Grand Prix and unable to build on it.
“Jemma ran really well - that 28.5 or whatever it was for the last 200m, that blew my mind,” said Young. “She would have been disappointed she didn’t get a chance to build on it but if you are to get a cold it is good that it was last week and not this week.”
Eilish McColgan, a bronze medalilist in the 3000m behind Muir in Belgrade in 2017, is another Scot looking to get over a recent illness to get in on the act again.
While no-one in history has racked up more laps round the place than Muir, remarkably this will be McColgan’s first-ever visit to the Emirates Arena.
“When you have been off for a week or ten days, you feel so flat, so slow,” said McColgan, coached - often remotely - by her mum and Scottish athletics legend Liz. “It is frustrating because ten days ago everything was great, training was going better than ever. I’ll just have to take it day by day - get some sessions in again, start feeling that pace.
“It is such a big event that had it not been Glasgow I might just have focused on the world outdoors or building for Tokyo. With it being Glasgow, my dad has got tickets, my uncle has got tickets.. I thought I just can’t be there.”
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