With anticipation building towards the start of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow next month, the city now stands at the forefront of another momentous sporting spectacle, ten years on from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, hailed ‘the best Games ever,’ and an event that continues to shape the city’s sporting heritage today.

Since the summer of 2014, Glasgow has seamlessly evolved into a global sporting hub, a transformation marked by the city’s recognition as the European Capital of Sport in 2023, affirming its unwavering commitment to sport and power to change lives for the better.

The excitement that swept through the city for two-plus weeks in July, from the spectacle of the Queen’s Baton Relay to the enthusiasm of the competition, marked Glasgow’s proper initiation into the global sporting arena and signaled the start of a journey that was still going, ten years on. During that time, Glasgow has hosted numerous other significant events like the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships, the inaugural multi-sport 2018 European Championships, the 2019 European Athletics Championships, and most recently, the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships.

While the word legacy is often overused, it is clear that the Games were not just a one-time spectacle; they served as a catalyst for sustained growth and achievement within the city on many levels. As the World Athletics Indoor Championships beckon, Glasgow stands ready to add another chapter to its illustrious sporting history, prepared to welcome the world’s best to compete for indoor glory in this important Olympic year.

Eilidh Doyle, Guy Learmonth, and Jemma Reekie have all competed at the sport’s top level, and all three athletes were a part of the Games in 2014 – either as competitors or spectators. Looking ahead to the world indoors, each athlete has taken the time to reminisce on the events of ten years ago, with Reekie and Learmonth amongst the athletes looking to compete. Doyle, now retired, is the event’s ambassador. Sharing their memories of the event, all three individuals still look back at Glasgow 2014 with extreme fondness and are hopeful that Glasgow can continue its athletics legacy into the next decade.

A young athlete in 2014, Eilidh Doyle is now Scotland’s most successful track athlete after retiring with a silver medal at the 2019 European Indoor Athletics Championships. Reflecting on Glasgow’s mood before the event, Doyle remembers the buzz as a young athlete when the Games were first awarded to the city.

“When they announced Glasgow had won the bid, my mum said to me you could maybe go there,” recalled Doyle, as the whole country began to make plans for the Games as Glasgow was chosen ahead of Nigerian capital city, Abuja, back in 2007.

Fast forward to 2014, and Scotland as a nation was ready and expectant to see the world’s stars arrive in the city. Doyle, a young athlete at the time, remembers the excitement.

“The whole buzz around all of the athletes, the city, and Scotland in general was better than I ever expected,” she said.

“We weren’t sure what the crowds would be like, but Hampden was utterly sold out. Stepping onto that track and hearing the noise and the crowd was something I’ll never experience again.

“The crowd wasn’t just behind the Scottish athletes; a lot of the other home nation athletes as well; it just seemed like one big celebration, one big party.”

Competing at home certainly boosted Doyle, as she claimed silver in the 400m hurdles, a memory the athlete now holds above anything else in her illustrious career.

“To win a medal and be able to do a lap of honor was terrific.

“I retired in 2021, which allowed me to reflect on my career. My favorite moment is still that lap of honor at Hampden. I’ve competed at Olympic Games, but to compete in Glasgow and do that lap of honor at Hampden was just an incredible experience.”

Eilidh Doyle with her silver medal at Glasgow 2014 (© Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

It was also an unforgettable Games for fresh-faced 22-year-old Guy Learmonth, who would go into the event desperate to make an impact.

Returning to the competition, Learmonth expressed his excitement: “My fondest memories in athletics are of competing in Glasgow. At Hampden in 2014, the noise was deafening. I struggled to hear the announcers when I was on the start line.

“After getting through my heat, I faced David Rudisha in my semi-final. That was my standout moment. I was so nervous before the race I was sick in the shower. That had never happened to me before, but I put on my poker face when I got to the track. I remember hearing the noise, and it was so loud; then I walked out, and I felt like a gladiator.

“I qualified outright in the first spot, and that was a big surprise; it gave me such purpose. I realized that this was what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t care how nervous I was; I just wanted to get out and run. Of all the championships I’ve done, 2014 is my best memory.”

Guy Learmonth racing in the semi-finals of the men’s 800m at Glasgow 2014 (© Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

 

While Guy Learmonth used the Games as a springboard for the rest of his career, for Jemma Reekie, the Games in Glasgow came at a completely different point in her career. Still at school, the young athlete watched on as a fan, aiming to one day take her place on the track in Glasgow.

Reekie was involved in Glasgow’s hosting of the Diamond League two weeks prior and the ‘Commonwealth Baton Run’ as the hype began to build around the country.

Reekie recalled her involvement: “The Diamond League was the first big athletics competition I’d ever attended. I was amazed, and it inspired me. I remember looking at the girls running in different events and feeling so relatable to them.”

“I also carried the Commonwealth baton ahead of the Games, which was special as I could run with it close to my hometown; I felt like I was part of the games.

“During the event, I remember Glasgow being buzzing and thinking, this is incredible having it right on my doorstep; I wanted to compete in something like it one day.

“In Scotland, the event was just everywhere. We talked about it in school, and at home, it was on the TV the whole time. My family and I watched everything, making me think I wanted to be part of it.

Jemma Reekie will be hoping to build on her recent win in Liévin by winning a medal in Glasgow (© Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Looking forward to the World Athletics Indoor Championships this March, Reekie is keen to finally realize that dream of competing in Glasgow, and she firmly believes the fans can spur her to success.

“It would be so special to compete in Glasgow next month. To get there and win a medal in front of a home crowd, my first senior medal would be so special on a home track I used to train on.

“Scottish people are always loud, noisy, and encouraging, and in the UK, the fans are generally amazing. They don’t just come and watch; they support us the whole time.”

With another significant championship now on the horizon, it’s hopefully time for Reekie, Learmonth, and Doyle to make new memories in Glasgow as the future generation of young athletes watches on. Taking place from 1-3 March, it’s not long to go until there is a buzz in the air around Glasgow once more, and all three hope this event can be every bit as memorable as the one ten years ago.

Several emerging young athletes seemingly intent on upending the established order have highlighted the early part of Australia’s pre-Paris Olympics year, Len Johnson reports for World Athletics. That theme will continue at the Maurie Plant Meet – the first World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting of 2024 – in Melbourne on Thursday (15).

Teenage sprint star Torrie Lewis annexed the national 100m record in Canberra as January drew to a close; at the same meeting, middle-distance talent Peyton Craig stunned a strong field with a breakthrough win over 800m.

The wave building in the nation’s capital gained momentum at Adelaide’s Continental Tour meeting on 10 February. Craig won again in the men’s 800m, going to 1:45.41 to defeat New Zealand’s James Preston. Emerging star Cameron Myers, still only 17 and one of those behind Craig in Canberra, turned to his favored 1500m distance and won in 3:34.55.

Another 18-year-old, Claudia Hollingsworth, ran a commanding last lap to win the women’s 1500m, slashing seconds from her previous best with a 4:04.45. Lewis followed up her 100m breakthrough with a 200m win in 23.05.

All those young talents and more are on Melbourne’s start lists. The status of the meeting has been upgraded from Bronze to Gold, and the quality of the opposition has risen commensurately. All but the most prodigious of young talents eventually experience the climb to the top, which gets steeper by the rung.

Consider the John Landy Mile in which Myers and Craig will face 2022 world 1500m champion Jake Wightman, Australian record-holder Stewart McSweyn, and New Zealand’s Samuel Tanner in one of the highlight events. Myers, at least, has experience at this level, having finished third to Ollie Hoare and Tanner in last year’s edition.

Wightman has had just one race back after a long 2023 injury break, a 3:34.06 indoor 1500m in Boston. McSweyn is having his first race for 2024. But you can bet both will be sharp and, no doubt, have either noted what Myers and Craig have done or had their attention drawn to it.

Having established an edge over her domestic rivals, Lewis steps into a 100m field with one outstanding addition. New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs set the Oceania record with her 10.96 in La Chaux-de-Fonds last year. Hobbs owns fewer than 11 performances as fast as or quicker on the area’s all-time list than Lewis’s 11.10. If conditions are good and Lewis can handle the further step up in competition, she could even become Australia’s first woman under 11 seconds.

Hollingsworth was outstanding in Adelaide. She has a personal best of 2:01.60, but that could be set for revision in an 800m that bristles with talent. Abbey Caldwell won impressively in Adelaide and will start as the favorite in Melbourne in a field bristling with talent. Strangely off-key in Adelaide, Australian record-holder Catriona Bisset leads the way, as do Bender Oboya, Linden Hall, Georgia Griffith, and Brooke Feldmeier of the US.

Returning to the 800m, the’ older’ men of the event – James Preston, Jack Lunn, national record-holder Joe Deng, and World Championships representative Riley McGown – will appreciate Craig’s absence as they battle out what looks to be a tight race.

Olyslagers and Denny lead the way on the field

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As you might expect, an Olympic silver, world championship bronze medallist, and Diamond League champion stand out among the field event competitors. Whereas Nicola Olyslagers’ only competitor appears to be the high jump crossbar, Matt Denny must produce something close to his best in the discus.

Olyslagers has jumped just once this year, an equal Oceania and Australian record of 2.03m. She will likely be the only jumper attempting heights above 1.90m in Melbourne. The question is: how high can she go?

On the other hand, Denny could be forgiven if he has a picture of New Zealand’s Connor Bell on the wall at home, with the Kiwi thrower at the center of a target. For the second year in a row, Bell disrupted Denny’s hopes of a winning start to his campaign. Last year, he upstaged the Australian in the Melbourne discus, held the previous day in Geelong. He did it again in Adelaide, producing a 65.93m national record to edge Denny’s best of 65.74m. Denny had four throws beyond 65 meters to Bell’s, but that one was the farthest of the competition.

Denny will be desperate to reverse that result in Melbourne, but they must look out for Britain’s Nick Percy (63.09m in Adelaide) and Lawrence Okoye (61.93m).

The women’s javelin also looks strong with two-time world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber, Oceania record-holder Kathryn Mitchell, New Zealand record-holder Tori Peeters, and Japan’s 2022 world finalist Sae Takemoto.

Zhoya heads hurdles fields

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Sasha Zhoya could have run for Australia or France. He chose France but still spent significant time in Australia during the summer. That includes headlining the field in the 110m hurdles.

Tayleb Willis, a year younger than Zhoya, is another of Australia’s rising talents. Still, he, along with Jacob McCorry, Nick Andrews, and the rest of the field, is likely to be chasing the flying Frenchman.

The women’s sprint hurdles, by contrast, are loaded with contenders. Olympic semi-finalist Liz Clay is coming in off a 100m PB and a just-windy 12.91 hurdles; Michelle Jenneke, Hannah Jones, Michelle Harrison from Canada, and the USA’s Queen Claye. Japan’s Mako Fukube (12.73) and Yumi Tanaka (12.89) should also be right in the race.

Elsewhere, Rohan Browning resumes his jousting with the 10-second barrier in the men’s 100m. Japan’s Ryota Yamagata and Joshua Azzopardi will likely figure in the finish.

Fans of longer distances – of which Melbourne has many – will have two 5000m races to savor. The seemingly stronger women’s race features marathon standouts Genevieve Gregson, Izzy Batt-Doyle, and Eloise Wellings up against African U20 3000m record-holder Aynadis Mebratu, Rose Davies, and Leanne Pompeani. Zatopek Ten champion Jack Rayner is the fastest on the men’s start list.

Will the youth revolution roll on? Or will the establishment fight back? Let’s hope for a balance of both.