‘Kerr & Wightman achievements deserve more credit’

Neil Gourley earned a global 1500m medal for the first time in his career at the start of the year, the latest in a series of Scottish successes at the distance that he believes should be recognised more than they are.

Silver at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing kicked off 2025 in spectacular style but maintaining momentum in track’s blue riband event is tough given the significant depth of talent across the planet.

Indeed, Gourley need look no further than his own team to find the past two world champions in the event.

Josh Kerr will defend the title he won in Budapest in 2023 when the world elite gather in Tokyo from Saturday.

His compatriot Jake Wightman famously won in Oregon the year before – the last time all three Scots lined up together.

“It’s something that should have got more attention,” Glasgow’s Gourley, whose only previous international medal had been European indoor silver in 2023, told BBC Scotland.

“It’s brilliant, actually. I don’t know if it’s even appreciated enough.

“It’s probably something that should be talked about more in an event that is at the peak of history in terms of depth right now – and we have had Scottish people at the top of the world in it.

Kerr, Gourley and Wightman will target further success at this month’s World Championships.

“We haven’t all lined up together I suppose since Eugene, when Jake won the world 1500m there,” Gourley explained.

“It’s quite special that we were first on a team together in 2019 [at the World Championships] in Doha. Who knows the different ways it could have gone between then and now.

“We’ve all had our ups and downs between then but here we are six years later still representing our country together. It’s a lot more fun with these guys on the team. We go back a long way now.

Double Olympic and world Jakob Ingebrigtsen will also be competing over the 1500m distance against Arizona-based Giffnock North athlete Gourley and his fellow Scots.

“Off the top of my head, I think I’m ranked outside the top 30 in terms of season’s bests this year so that probably tells you a lot about the depth of the event just now,” said Gourley.

“I’m pretty confident in saying I’ll finish higher than that. I’d love to outperform that ranking and I think I will, but it gives you a sense of how deep the event has got.

“Not just the people at the top – the top 20 are all quite close together and there are so many people running under three minutes 30 seconds in the 1500m and that used to be a time that maybe one or two people a year would run.

“It’s now become so commonplace that it’s got silly, if anything. At the same time, it only counts for so much when you all line up at a championship – and I’m looking forward to beating plenty of people ranked ahead of me.”

To help with that, Gourley has taken himself away to a special preparation camp in a location that makes him feel like he is on holiday.

A fair few would swap places with him in Hawaii where, as well as some specialist training sessions, he has also been able to enjoy a little rest and recovery.

“I have spent some time at the beach because it would be a bit rude not to,” he added.

“I’d love to learn how to surf, somebody’s got to teach me one day. Actually, I just kind of swim around in the waves until I crash out onto the shore. That’s about as adventurous as I get.”