Eilidh Child fell just short of earning an individual World Championship medal in Moscow but the 400m hurdler insists taking home the belief she can compete against the world’s best has her targeting gold at Glasgow 2014.
Out in lane eight, the 26-year-old finish fifth in a time of 54.86seconds and was initially disappointed having run more than half a second off her personal best which would have been good enough for bronze.
However after picking up that colour in the 4x400m relay the following evening, and having had time to digest her performance in Russia, the Scot returned home full of confidence to take into next season.
And, with the Commonwealth Games taking place on her doorstep next summer in Glasgow, Child is confident of surpassing her exploits in Russia and upgrading the silver she won at Delhi 2010 to gold in Scotland.
“Moscow was a really good World Championships for me. I think if you had said to me at the start of the year that I would finish fifth in the world I wouldn’t have believed it,” said Child.
“And then for the relay team to win a bronze was the icing on the cake and to actually come home with a medal was great and it was a great end to what has been a good season for me.
“Initially I was a bit disappointed because you look up at the scoreboard and you see the times that won the medals and you think ‘I know I'm capable of doing that’.
“But having reflected on it I’m delighted with how it all went. Now I just am looking to build on what I’ve done this year. I won’t make any drastic changes from what I have been doing.
“But I want to work a bit more on my speed and my hurdle technique and combine the two so when it comes to the season I’ll be in great shape.
“I think it’s given me the confidence that I can just go and really contend with the girls on the world stage and the encouraging thing is I was the first Commonwealth athlete in the race.
“So that bodes well for next year and it has given me the confidence that if I can go to the World Championships and perform well why can’t I go and do that at Glasgow.”
© Sportsbeat 2013