Local hero Eilidh Child has enough on her plate without being touted as the poster girl for Glasgow 2014, but it’s just another hurdle the Kinross-shire athlete is determined to clear.
The 26-year-old’s impressive start to her outdoor season was rewarded with a spot in the GB squad for this weekend’s European Team Championships at Gateshead, where she will not only be going for medal glory but will also be hoping to lay down a marker for the World Trials in Birmingham in just over three weeks’ time.
But while the big diary dates are coming thick and fast for the Pitreavie AC athlete, there is nothing like a home Commonwealth Games on the horizon to get the blood pumping that little bit harder.
Where the faces of stars like Jessica Ennis became synonymous with London 2012, Child is set to be one of the figureheads next year as she flies the flag for Scotland at Glasgow 2014 and that will only add to the pressure as she tries to emulate the silver medal she won in the 400m hurdles in Delhi three years ago.
That said though, Child is taking everything in her stride.
“You can’t really forget about Glasgow,” she explained.
“Obviously you’ve got to take each chance and each race as it comes but for the Scottish athletes you’ve always got that at the back of your head that the big one is next year.
“Obviously there will be nerves and stuff like that but I’m just trying to look at it as a positive.
“If people are talking about me and expecting me to do things I’m obviously doing something right, so the big thing is not to see it as a negative and really embrace it.
“People like Jess Ennis dealt with it very well in London but again you saw some other athletes who didn’t deal with it well.
“It is really difficult and I went there and I found it overwhelming. Jess just kind of switched off to it all and looked at it as if it was just another championship or event.
“But at the end of the day, you are just going to do your job and you do it all the time.
“It’s just going to a different environment and making a different journey to work, so that’s the best way to look at it you’re just going to have a bigger crowd supporting you.
“I find it flattering when people are expecting things from me and it’s just about being confident with it and not letting it get on top of you.
“This is the best shape I’ve been in, this is the quickest I’ve been, and it’s just about getting good conditions but just nailing the hurdles, nailing the stride pattern and getting it right on the one day.”
Child emerged from London 2012 with the feeling that she did not do herself justice in the 400m hurdles, having seen her dreams of an Olympic medal snuffed out after two below-par performances.
After scraping into the semis after a scrappy heat, the Scot missed out on a place in the final by finishing seventh even though two disqualifications saw her later promoted to fifth and was forced to reflect on what might have been.
However, the Perth-born star has put her Olympic experience firmly behind her and is shaping up nicely for this weekend’s action in Gateshead and beyond.
Child ran a Scottish record 54.93 in only her second 400m hurdles race of the season, pushing her to the top of the UK rankings, but she reckons there is still room for improvement.
She added: “The last couple of races I’ve run, there have still been mistakes and errors that I can iron out.
“But I think if I can get everything right and get good conditions then I’ll really take a good chunk out of my time. I don’t know when it will happen and hopefully it will happen at the Worlds.
“It’s good because I’m going to have the Russians and the Ukrainians at the Worlds, so it’s going to be the top athletes in the world and probably the European champion will be in my race so I want to contend with these girls.
“It’s now getting to the point where I’m racing these girls a lot more regularly and it’s about just competing against them forgetting about times and just racing against them.
“I was quite happy with my race in Prague recently because I finished behind Zuzana Hejnova, who is obviously one of the ones everybody is trying to beat this year.
“So it’s just about getting in amongst these girls and competing with them.”
And as the clock ticks towards Glasgow 2014, Child insists she is better prepared both physically and mentally with self-belief the one thing that was perhaps missing in her arsenal last summer.
“I think the last couple of years I’ve said it would be a bonus to make the final but now I’m getting to that point and that age now where I really want to be up there and in the final fighting for the medal,” she said.
“And I should be confident of doing that.
“I think last year I think I was in decent enough shape but I didn’t necessarily believe it. It was almost like I needed proof to see how well I was running whereas this year I don’t really need the proof or the times.
“I know I’m in the good shape, it’s just about delivering it.
“I definitely feel more confident about going in and running against these girls whereas last year I was going into races thinking: ‘These girls are awesome and much better than me.’
“Now I’m thinking I should be right up there with them.
“I think the indoor season has really been a confidence boost and I’ve also been seeing a sports psychologist after the Olympics, so I think he’s really put everything back into perspective about why I do it and why I enjoy it so much.
“I think that’s helped and it’s just bringing it back down to the sport I love and why I enjoy what I do. The training and the indoor season has shown me that the speed there, and if I get the hurdling right then it should be good.”
While she is now based in Bath for training, Child very much has her athletic roots in Courier Country and recently returned to her Pitreavie AAC base in Dunfermline to continue honing her craft.
It just so happened that dozens of youngsters were taking part in a Fife Schools athletics festival the same day, and Child was delighted to see the latest sign that Scottish athletics appears to be on the up.
“Obviously we had five Scots in the Olympic team last year and we’re seeing younger athletes coming through as well so it’s really encouraging,” she concluded.
“I think the Scottish athletes who watched the Olympics have embraced it and thought: ‘I don’t want to be missing out next year’ and they’ve really upped their game.
“It’s really encouraging and hopefully it carries on. A few of the kids at Pitreavie came in to chat to me, which is really lovely, and there has been a real legacy from London 2012.
“Especially at Pitreavie, the guys I’ve been speaking to have been saying they’ve got waiting lists for athletes trying to get into the club and I think that’s come off the back of last year with people like Jess who are really good role models.
“I think it’s really got people wanting to be part of athletics now. It’s great to see and hopefully we can just try and accommodate everybody now and keep them interested.
“My interest came from my sister and my family but it was encouraged at school level and if you can be encouraged at school I think that’s half the battle.”