Chris O'Hare vows to run race of his life

Chris O'Hare vowed to get it right on the night in today's 1500 metres final at the Commonwealth Games, despite sweating it out for a place on the start line.
Chris O'Hare goes in the 1500m finalChris O'Hare goes in the 1500m final
Chris O'Hare goes in the 1500m final

The Edinburgh AC ace, 27, struggled to fifth place in the first of yesterday’s semis in 3:44.76 in his first outing since his injury-hit appearance at the world indoor championships five weeks ago.

And it left the double European medallist, who insisted his foot problem is not an issue, needing to await the outcome of the second race before advancing as a fastest-loser.

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“It was not great,” he admitted. “It needs to be better. I made moves I shouldn’t have made. So tactically it was pretty terrible. I wasn’t impressed by myself. It wasn’t very good. But I will be better in the final.”

Jake Wightman recovered from coming fourth in Thursday’s 800m metres to advance in second place but revealed he won’t talk tactics in advance with O’Hare.

“Both of us will go in with our own ideas,” he said. “We’re at pretty different stages and I feel better for racing twice here. I expect he’ll come out flying.”

He was backed for a medal by athletics legend Seb Coe who believes it is time the former European junior champion landed a significant prize.

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And Wightman said: “It’s a massive honour for him to say that. The best possible outcome from would have been two medals. And if I end up getting a medal in the 1500, in addition to the fourth in the 800m, that won’t be a bad account.”

Meanwhile, heptathlon hope Holly McArthur wants to learn from her big-time debut after finishing tenth in her maiden Games.

The Edinburgh AC prospect scored 5381 points following the second-fastest 800 metres of the event of 2:13.04, leaving her 874 adrift of England’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson who notched 6255 points to add Commonwealth gold to her recent World Indoor title.

“I can use it for my development,” McArthur, 18, said. “I need to learn to trust myself. I can’t be intimidated up against the best in the world.”

Elsewhere, Lynsey Sharp is set to go today in the 4x400m relay final with Eilidh Doyle chasing her second medal here.