Eilidh as excited as ever ahead of championships

Kinross hurdler Doyle is Scotland’s most decorated track athlete and continues to produce podium finishes.

She secured a third successive Commonwealth Games 4x400m relay silver on the Gold Coast in April, before bagging bronze in Berlin at the European Championships.

Stoking up again for 2019 is proving no challenge for the 31-year-old, who can’t wait to thrill her home crowd next March.

“You get to the end of every season, evaluate what shape you’re in and how everything’s feeling,” said Doyle, speaking at the celebration of 100 days to go until Glasgow 2019.

“I did get questions about whether I’d carry on but when 2018 finished, the prospect of competing in Glasgow provided me with so much motivation.

“As a Scottish athlete, how could you turn down that chance? That feeling took me into winter training.

“Every season you’ve got to stop, pause and deliberate on how you feel because winter training doesn’t get any easier. I take every day as it comes but I love what I do and I’m not retiring any time soon.

“Glasgow 2019 will be special. Most of the European Championships were in Glasgow over the summer but the athletics was in Berlin.

“It’ll be great to be back, have a home championship and the Glasgow crowd behind me.”

Doyle has plenty of indoor pedigree to draw on, as well as the backing of a partisan Scottish support.

She won bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham earlier this year and enjoyed a breakout week at the European Indoors in 2013, claiming relay gold and hurdles silver.

Doyle will be faced with a battle royale to make the GB team over 400m, with relay colleagues Zoey Clark and Laviai Nielsen hot on her heels to grab individual spots.

The European Athletics Indoor Championship Glasgow 2019 is guaranteed to give the Scottish crowd unmissable entertainment. The competition schedule is now live on www.glasgow2019athletics.com with tickets available across all events.