It’s time to forget about the bleak news cycle for a moment and celebrate this athlete’s incredible race.
Not only did Scottish runner Eilish McColgan win the 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday night with a home crowd and make a new record championship time of 30:48:60, her success has sparked a great sense of nostalgia.
Eilish, 31, just won exactly the same Commonwealth Championship race her mum, Liz Nuttall, won 32 years ago, proving it really does run in the family.
The athlete, who has struggled with injuries in the past, was not in the lead until the final lap around the track when she suddenly overtook Kenyan rival Irine Cheptai in the home straight.
Unsurprisingly, Eilish sprinted over to her mum in the crowds when she realised she had won the race, and they shared a tender moment.
The following morning, Eilish told BBC Breakfast: “It was just an incredible experience, being in that stadium...the noise over the last 200m honestly just dragged me to that finish line.
“It was just an incredible evening and even more special to have my mum in the crowd, my dad, my partner Michael – it feels surreal to have won that so many years after my mum. I can’t put it into words.”
She said her mum simply told her “you’ve done it” when they had a celebratory hug at the end of the race.
Eilish also said she was “really nervous” before she hit the track, but that she couldn’t believe it when she not only won, but made a record time.
“I’ve actually only seen it once because a journalist sort of forced me to watch it when I was little, but it was never something that... I grew up with my mum allowing me to make my own decisions, my mum never pushed me into athletics and I never saw her medals.
“I was never forced to watch her races or anything like that, I made my own decision to come into this sport and I think that’s why I love it so much, I’m very passionate about it.”
“I don’t think it’s quite sunk in that I’ve literally replicated exactly what she’s done. It’s just very surreal right now.”
Eilish’s mother Liz also told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland of her immense pride for her daughter, whom she still coaches.
Liz won two 10,000m Commonwealth gold medals in 1986 in Edinburgh and again in 1990 Auckland. She also became a world champion in 1991 and an Olympic silver medal in 1988.
She said: “As an athlete myself, you have fond memories of having success and whatever but when it’s your own children it’s like 100 times better.
’It’s just one of those really special moments and I was just thankful I was actually in the stadium and able to experience how the home support helped lift her to that gold medal.”
She also claimed that without the Birmingham crowd, “the last 150m would never have happened” for her daughter.