Liz McColgan

While a parent-child coaching relationship is a common theme in sport, there is a uniqueness to the bond between Liz and Eilish that brings out the best in both athlete and coach.

Given it’s a coaching relationship that has lasted two decades, they must – as the results show – be doing something right. Liz is a household name from a halcyon era of British athletics that would always be a hard act to follow. To see how Eilish, with her mum’s guidance, has been able to match and even surpass those achievements year-on-year brings much credit to both. Liz’s highlights include winning the London Marathon in 1996 and Commonwealth gold over 10,000m in both 1986 and 1990 – a feat matched by Eilish in Birmingham in August 2022, when she broke her mum’s own championship record.

But it is perhaps Liz’s 10,000m win on the track in the Tokyo World Championships of 1991, grinding down her challengers in the heat and humidity of the Japanese capital in her own unmistakable frontrunning style that will live longest in the memory of athletics fans.