Kinross-shire athletes, and former pupils of the same school, Eilidh Child and Laura Muir will go up against each other for the Scottish ‘Athlete of the Year’ accolade for 2015.
The duo have been shortlisted for the prestigious award along with Lynsey Sharp and Robbie Simpson.
Picking nominations was one of the toughest selection tasks undertaken by scottishathletics Director of Coaching, Rodger Harkins, in two decades in the sport.
“We started out with a dozen contenders for the main award,” he explained. “That’s a dozen Scots who had made a significant impact on the sport at British, European and World level over the past year.
“Eventually we managed to bring that down to a shortlist of four and within that there are two athletes who medalled at World Champs, Eilidh Child and Robbie Simpson, and two who set new national records, Laura Muir and Lynsey Sharp. So I really do think we can justifiably say the bar was set high this year.
“Eilidh Child (the 2014 winner)has once again been at the top end of her event. She’s at that level through hard work and consistency and while there were some changes in her stride pattern for the hurdles I’m sure she will feel on top of that for Rio.
“She made a big contribution to the 4 x 400m relay in Beijing to come home with another global medal and Eilidh had also picked up a bronze at the IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas early in the season and won the 400m Hurdles at the European Team Champs as well as the British title.
“Laura Muir has had a super season. When you look back, there were a number of good performances like the Diamond League win in Oslo, PBs at 3000m and 800m, the British Champs gold in Birmingham and, of course, that new National Record in Monaco when she became the first Scottish woman under four minutes for 1500m.
“And then, in Beijing, she came through two rounds and took some significant scalps to finish fifth in the World Champs final in a race where there up to 10 real top-quality athletes.”
Among the under-20 contenders are Fife’s Jack Lawrie, with Perth’s Ben Greenwood one of three under-17s to be recognised.