BIRMINGHAM, 7 August. Three medals on the final night saw Scotland finish these Games on a high. Laura Muir led the way with as predictable a victory as there could be. That's shouldn't undermine what this wonderful athlete has achieved. Coming off the World Championships, she took bronze the previous night in the 800m and ran away from the field in the 1500m. 

Eilish McColgan was a star of these Games and Gold-Silver trumps Muir's Gold-Bronze. McColgan also achieved what no other Scottish female athlete has done - the first to win Gold/Silver in a single Commonwealth Games. Her 5000m silver, after the physical and emotional strain of her 10000m win, was outstanding.

And a surprise bronze for our relay team of Zoey Clark, Beth Dobbin, Jill Cherry and Nicole Yeargin as the England team were disqualified. A medal in the final event. Three on the night.

BIRMINGHAM, 3 August. One of the great moments in Scottish athletics history. Eilish McColgan - controlled, composed, determined - oh so determined - triumphed to win the Commonwealth Games 10,000 metres. She held off the challenge of Kenya's Irine Cheptai in a memorable finish to take the title in 30:48.60.

After a slow first 1000 metres in 3:17.86, McColgan took charged and led the field through 1000m splits of 3:05.99, 3:04.03, 3:04.82 and 3:05.32 to lead at the halfway mark in 15:38.02. Fellow Scot Sarah Inglis went through in 7th in 15:39.7.

Kiprotich and Cheptai took over the lead over the next 2000 metres with the contenders down to three, Eilish sitting in comfortably. Cheptai looked menacing as she went to the front but Kiprotich was starting to struggle, limping visibly but holding on determinedly to take the bronze.

And then there were two. Cheptai tried to break McColgan but that was impossible. The look on McColgan's face said "you're not going to take this from me" and it was McColgan who came through on the last lap. Sheer guts, determination and talent drove her to the tape.

Rarely have I seen an athlete so visibly want to win - she is her mother's daughter!

EUGENE, 19 July.  The men's 1500 metres is one of the most competitive events at the World Championships and Scotland had the Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr and Olympic finalist Jake Wightman as genuine medal contenders. But none of the pre-race discussions would have predicted this outcome. Scotland has her first individual gold medal winner at these championships in 31 years. Since these World Championships were introduced in 1983, Liz McColgan had been the only individual World champion. The previous day, Laura Muir had excelled in winning a magnificent bronze medal in the women's 1500 metres. Now, Jake Wightman has put aside past disappointments  to race to a tactically-perfect 1500 metres victory.

In a true-run race, without a pacemaker, the athletes went for it. 400 metres was reached in 55.51 seconds, led by Abel Kipsang, with Wightman handily placed in 4th in 55.78.  Kerr was 9th in 56.38. At 800 metres, Jakob Ingebrigtsen had moved to the front (1:52.04), Wightman still in 4th (1:52.41) and Kerr up to 6th (1:52.67).

At the bell, the Norwegian still led in 2:34.23, 0.16 ahead of Wightman in third with Kerr a further 0.21 back in 5th. With 200 metres to go, Jake edged to the front and was strong enough and fast enough to hold off Ingrebrigtsen to claim a memorable victory in a world leading 3:29.23, Kerr 5th in 3:30.60. Two Scots in the top 5 athletes in the World.

Last word - as always - to father Geoff, the announcer at the Championships - "That is my son and he is the World Champion". 

EUGENE, 18 July. Women's 1500 Metres - 1 Faith Kipyegon 3:52.96, 2 Gudaf Tsegay 3:54.52, 3 Laura Muir 3:55.28.  Laura Muir ran another of the races of her life to claim the first individual medal at the World Championships by a Scottish athlete since Liz McColgan's triumph in 1991, becoming the first British medal winner at the 2022 championships. 

In a race run at blistering pace, the field was soon split into a top four as Tsegay went through the first 400 metres in 58.82, Muir in 4th in 59.18. At 800 metres, Tsegay still led in 2:03.18 with Muir now up to third in 2:03.41 and, crucially, Hirut Meshesha unable to keep up with the pace. The leading pack was down  to three. At the bell, Tsegay went through 1100m in 2:51.76 with just 0.07 separating the first three. The gaps started to increase as Olympic champion Kipyegon went for home, opening up the gap over Tsegay with Laura Muir racing to the second fastest time of her career, six seconds clear of fourth place. 

1 July 2022. The Scotland team to compete at this year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham has been announced. The team consists of 14 men and 19 women and includes 5 athletes in the para events. Stephanie Davis, previously pre-selected for the Marathon, has had to withdraw as a result of a foot injury.

Men - 100m: Adam Thomas. T38 100m: Ross Paterson, Alexander Thomson. 800m: Guy Learmonth, Jake Wightman. 1500m: Neil Gourley, Josh Kerr, Wightman. 5000m: Andrew Butchart, Gourley. 10000m: Butchart.  T54 Marathon: Sean Frame. High jump: William Grimsey, David Smith. Discus: Nicholas Percy. Hammer: Chris Bennett, Mark Dry. 

Women - 100m: Alisha Rees. 200m: Beth Dobbin. 400m: Zoey Clark, Nicole Yeargin. 800m: Laura Muir, Jemma Reekie, Jenny Selman. 1500m: Muir, Reekie. T54 1500m: Samantha Kinghorn, Melanie Woods. 5000m: Sarah Inglis, Eilish McColgan, Eloise Walker. 10000m: Inglis, McColgan. 100m hurdles: Heather Paton. Discus: Kirsty Law. 4x100m: Sarah Malone, Rebecca Matheson, Paton, Rees, Taylah Spence. 4x400m: Jill Cherry, Clark, Dobbin, Carys McAulay, Yeargin. 

OSLO, Norway, 16 June. In a memorable Dream Mile race at Oslo's Bislett Games, Jake Wightman took down Graham Williamson's 40-year-old Scottish mational One Mile record of 3:50.64 with his run of 3:50.30 in third place.  Taken through the first 800 metres in 1:53.30 by the pacemakers, three runners - Jakob Ingebrigten, Oliver Hoare and Jake - were clear and finished in that order, with the Norwegian winning in a world leading 3:46.46. Neil Gourley was also in fine form with a big improvement in his mile best to 3:52.91, becoming the fourth fastest Scot outdoors at the event. 

HENGELO, Netherlands, 6 June. Eilish McColgan produced an outstanding run at the FBK Games at Hengelo to win the 10000 metres by 25.25 seconds and smash the Scottish record of 30:57.07 by 38.05 seconds. Liz McColgan's record had been set at the same venue in 1991. 

EISENSTADT, Austria, 2 June. Jack Lawrie, competing at the Austrian Open, has bettered the Scottish National Record of 50.24 seconds, held by Charles Robertson-Adams since 2001. Lawrie came mightily close before with his 50.25 run at Bedford in 2017 but having raced little over the last two years, he has looked strong since his return with three sub-51 seconds runs in four races in May before clocking 50.07 in Austria to break the record (subject to ratification).

The following changes of club have been approved by scottishathletics with effect from 1 May 2022:

Iona Brodie, Aberdeen AAC to Dundee Hawkhill Harriers; Sophie Frater, Airdrie Harriers to Cumbernauld AC; Conan Harper, Teviotdale Harriers to Giffnock North AC; Mark Holliman, North Ayrshire AC to Kilbarchan AAC; Fearne Jarrett, Fife AC to Dundee Hakhill Harriers; Imogen Jarrett, Fife AC to Dundee Hakhill Harriers; Linzie Marsh, Pitreavie AAC to Falkirk Victoria Harriers; David Rose, Perth Strathtay Harriers to Dundee Hawkhill Harriers; Donald Ross, Team East Lothian to Edinburgh AC; Fiona Steele, Strathearn Harriers to Law & District AC; Lucy Ward, Hunters Bog Trotters to Lasswade AC.

WALNUT, California, 16 April 2022. It is a new Scottish national discus record for Nick Percy, bettering his 63.38 performance from July 2016. It's been a long time coming but Nick threw 63.47 with his first throw at the Mt. SAC Relays meeting.

The following changes of club have been approved by scottishathletics with effect from 1 April 2022:

Rebecca Burns Edinburgh AC to Pitreavie AAC, Gordon Campbell Penicuik Harriers to Carnegie Harriers, Sam Coull Ross County AC to Inverness Harriers AAC, Malin Hardy North Ayrshire AC to Kilmarnock Harriers, Anna Kelly Springburn Harriers to VP Glasgow AC, Laurence Liu Cambridge & Coleridge to Edinburgh AC, Imogen McClune North Ayrshire AC to VP Glasgow AC, Oliver Pound Portobello RC to Carnethy Hill RC, Kaydi Smith Arbroath & Dist AC to Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, Catriona Pennet Edinburgh AC to Aberdeen AAC, Janice Webster Pitreavie AAC to Kinross RR, Isla Williams Ochil Hill Runners to Central AC, Julie Wylie Kilbarchan AAC to VP Glasgow AC.

and a catch up on those approved with effect from 1 March 2022:

Caitlin Anderson Kilmarnock Harriers to Shetland AAC, Michelle Best Carnegie Harriers to Ochil Hill Runners, Heather Bruce Inverness Harriers AC to Aberdeen AAC, Joanne Clancy Dundee RR to Edinburgh AC, Logan Craig Kirkintilloch Olympians to Cumbernauld AC, Libby Currie Whitemoss AAC to VP Glasgow AC, Branden Dunlop Ayr Seaforth AC to VP Glasgow AC, Isabella Ellwood Skipton AC to Edinburgh AC, Leya Gibb Central AC to Falkirk Victoria Harriers, Derek Glasgow Fraserburgh Rc to Arbroath& Dist AC, Emily Happell Ayr Seaforth AC to VP Glasgow AC, Andrew Johnston Springburn Harriers to Linlithgow AC, Sean Laroche Haddington RC to Team East Lothian, Magnus Lawson Haddington RC to Team East Lothian, Scott Macleod Metro Aberdeen RC to Edinburgh AC, Wynn Mardall Banchory Stonehaven AC to Deeside Runners, Cole Queen Clydesdale Harriers to VP Glasgow AC, Sarah Roberts Metro Aberdeen AC to Aberdeen AAC, Robbie Shaw Aberdeen AAC to Edinburgh AC, Joe Smith Musselburgh & Dist. AC to Team East Lothian, Reuben Whamond Arbroath & Dist AC to Dundee Hawkhill Harriers.

BELGRADE, 18-20 March. The first World Athletics Indoor Championships since 2018 took place over the weekend and for the five Scottish athletes in the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team, it was a new experience - all were competing in the event for the first time.

Adam Thomas has emerged as a top-class sprinter, the first Scot to represent GB&NI in the 60 metres at these Championships since Elliot Bunney in the first official championships in 1987. There was an initial World Indoor Games in 1985 where Cameron Sharp placed 6th, but Thomas surpassed expectations with three strong runs and a 5th place in the final.

The fast pace of the 1500 metres stretched out the field of 12 athletes and Neil Gourley was solidly in sixth throughout but couldn't make inroads on the five in front. Never in danger of losing his position, Gourley's sixth place in a World final was an excellent achievement.

Guy Learmonth reached the final too but not in the event he would have expected or wanted. He ran the final leg in the sixth placed GB 4x400 team , but will be disappointed to have been eliminated in the heats. But with the first two only to qualify, Learmonth found himself run out of it by the eventual silver and bronze medallists.

The women's 800m qualifying allowed for the first two and the next two fastest and, as is often the case, this favoured the final heat runners and four athletes qualified from that heat. Agonisingly the Canadian Butterworth's time of 2:01.99 knocked out Jenny Selman by one hundredth of a second in Selman's first international competition since the European Juniors in 2009.

Learmonth, Selman and Erin Wallace all found themselves in heat one of their event and the 1500 metres provided five finalists from heat three. Wallace found the pace tough in heat one and conceded 4.5 seconds to fourth-placed Linden Hall  over the last 300 metres.

BOSTON, 27 February: Josh Kerr set new Scottish, British and European indoor mile records and became the third fastest ever in the world  in Boston on Sunday. His time of 3:48.87 at the Boston University Last Chance meet better his own pending Scottish record of 3:52.27 and was more than three seconds inside fellow Briton Peter Elliott's 1990 mark. It also took  more than a second off Irishman Eamonn Coghlan's 1983 European record time.

Kerr was faster than Elliott's British indoor 1500m record - 32 years to the day after it was set in Seville. He passed 1500m in 3:32.86 en route to finishing his mile - more than a second quicker than Elliott in Spain, and better than Jake Wightman's Scottish indoor record of 3:34.48 set in New York last year.

Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, the world indoor mile record holder on 3:47.01 and Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj (3:48.45) are the only athletes in history to have run faster for the event.

The following changes of club have been approved by scottishathletics with effect from 1 February 2022:

Wendy Campbell, Springburn Harriers to Westerlands CCC; Iain Carroll, Giffnock North AC to Bellahouston Harriers; Katie Dinwoodie, Shetland AAC to Pitreavie AAC; Lucy Fitzsimmons, VP Glasgow AC to Shettleston Harriers; Martin Kerrigan, Peterhead AC to Garioch Road Runners; Gordon Lawson, PH Racing Club to Fife AC; Ruby Renton, Edinburgh AC to Pitreavie AAC; Jacob Tainsh, Garscube Harriers to VP Glasgow AC; Kevin  Stephen, Garioch Road Runners to Insch Trail RC.

GLASGOW, 5 February 2022. There was no doubt about the Scottish star of the DNA Athletics International as Fife's Jenny Selman first set a Commonwealth Games and World Indoor Championships qualifying standard of 2:00.70 in the pre-match 800 metres and then went on to win the match 800 with the most exciting finish of the day. Although Scotland finished 6th and last in the match, there were fine performances from Allan Hamilton setting a PB of 6.72 in the 60 metres and Emma Canning clearing a PB of 5.97 with her final long jump. Alisha Rees, too, set a season's best with a strong 60 metres run in 7.36.

As for the "innovative" event itself, there were pluses and minuses. The 2-hour timetable was good, reducing the time where nothing happens, and the focus given to each event, with nothing else to distract, gave added interest to the field events. The DNA format had already suffered as top athletes avoided the event for stronger competition elsewhere and I didn't think the field events worked. The head-to-head nature of the shot saw the athlete producing the best throw place 5th, and the mismatched nature of the high jump led to the better athletes jumping within themselves before the final jump-off round ended with six failures. The long jump fared better, but the final climax, The Hunt, was a mess - with the strongest team getting a 6.70 seconds advantage, the winner was never in doubt from the first leg. 

Entertaining enough, but as a traditionalist, I think it would have worked better as a straightforward international match across the selected events.

NEW YORK, 29 January 2022. In the same month as indoor mile record-holder Chris O'Hare announced his retirement, Josh Kerr has captured the Scottish national record, running 3:52.27 for second place at New York's Millrose Games. 

Kerr, in his first run since the Olympic Games in Tokyo last August, where he set an outdoor national record for 1500 metres, followed the early pace of Erik Sowinski, who took the field through the first two laps in 56.89 and 57.68 to reach the half-way point in 1:54.57. Kerr went to the front on lap 3 but could not hold off Australian Ollie Hoare, who passed the three-quarter mile mark in 2:53.26 to Kerr's 2:53.35. Kerr regained his lead to pass 1500m in 3:35.48, one second outside Jake Wightman's national record, but Hoare was too strong and went on to win in 3:50.83.

Kerr's 3:52.27 bettered Chris O'Hare's national indoor record of 3:52.91 and was Josh Kerr's 7th sub 4 minute mile.

1 January 2022. World Athletics world ranking lists at the end of 2021 show Laura Muir is the highest placed Scot, 25th in the women's rankings (up from 36 in 2020). Jemma Reekie moves up to 62nd. Jake Wightman remains top Scot on the mem's side, ranked 180th, down 30 places from the previous year.  Here are the leading Scottish athletes at the end of 2021 (2020 position in brackets):

The following changes of club have been approved by scottishathletics with effect from 1 January 2022:

William Bailey, Motherwell AC to Cumbernauld AAC; Ethan Carolan, Giffnock North AC to Aberdeen AAC; Chloe Cheyne, Inverness Harriers to Edinburgh AC; Lewis Craigie, VP Glasgow AC to Kilbarchan AAC; Claire Cunningham, Lothian RC to Run Livingston; Daniel Docherty, Clydesdale Harriers to Kilbarchan AAC; Eva Gray, Hamilton & Dist AC to Law & District AC; John Hammond, Carnethy HRC to PH Racing Club; Scott McDonald, Moorfoot Runners  to PH Racing Club; Emily Miller, VP Glasgow AC to Cumbernauld AAC; Sam Milton, Metro Aberdeen RC to Moray Road Runners; Louie Muir, Kilbarchan AAC to Giffnock North AC; Nicole Ritchie, Annan & Dist AC to Nithsdale AC; Ewart Scott, Lothian RC to Highland Hill Runner; Matthew Tait, Lasswade AC to Dunfermline T&F AC; Lois Thomson, Haddington RC to Team East Lothian; Sophie Widdowson, Corstorphine AAC to Edinburgh AC.