Less than 12 hours after finishing fifth in her first world final, Pitreavie AC’s Eilidh Child was back on track to give Britain’s 4x400m relay team the perfect start off at the World Championships in Moscow.
She looked the part, too, clocking 51.7 secs on the opening leg to hand over a lead which the GB & NI girls never relinquished, with world champion Christine Ohuruogu bringing home the baton in 3.25.41.
The squad now goes forward to Saturday night’s final.
For Child it was the morning after the night before and the dramatic 400m hurdles final in which British medal hope Perri Shakes-Drayton finished injured in seventh place, two places behind the Scot.
“I found out last night that I was running the relay heat, so I tried to recover from the final as quickly as possible,” said Child. “But I didn’t get too much sleep!
“So I’m just pleased to have come out and done a solid run. Now we can go back and relax with job done, and come out stronger for tomorrow’s final.”
The previous night’s race had seen Child struggle at hurdle three on the back straight, leaving her too much work to do for a podium place.
“But, after sleeping on it, I’m pretty happy with how last night went,” she said.
“I did say that if I had run a personal best I would have got a medal, but if everyone had run a PB I wouldn’t have. It’s about how you perform on the day after doing the rounds.
“Now that I’ve reflected, I was fifth in the world and I’m delighted. It was my first world championship, my first global final, and I can build on it.
“It has given me the confidence to go into next year’s Commonwealth Games and the world championships (in Beijing) the following year with much more experience and confidence and hopefully do a little better.”
Child looks sharp on the flat, and it is no surprise that successive British team managers have opted for the Kinross-shire athlete for important relay events. With Christine Ohuruogu within earshot, the question was asked if she might one day consider dropping the hurdles for the 400m event.
“I like the flat, but I don’t think I’m quick enough,” she said. “My strength has always been my endurance, which you need for hurdles. I’m strong and that’s why I chose the hurdles.”
Earlier, GB & NI’s Tiffany Porter produced an impressive performance in the women’s 100m hurdles, qualifying for today’s final, first in her heat in 12.72.
“It was just a matter of working off the cobwebs and just focusing on running a clean race and qualifying, that’s the most important thing and I’m happy I was able to do that today,” she said.