Kelly Holmes believes the short-list for FPSG Athlete of the Year in November could easily have reached double figures. The double Olympic champion, who won 800m and 1500m gold in Athens in 2004, is guest of honour for this year’s awards in Glasgow.

Five athletes are in contention for the main award backed by sponsors FPSG with a trio of track medallists – Eilidh Doyle, Laura Muir and Jake Wightman – joined by hill runner Charlotte Morgan, who won the world long distance hill championships, and Robbie Simpson, who won Gold Coast 2018 marathon bronze.

Holmes will help present the top award in November and is simply relieved she has not been involved in the selection process.

“I am really looking forward to coming to Glasgow in November for the FPSG Annual Awards and helping to present the FPSG Athlete of the Year trophy,” she said. “It has been such a superb year for so many Scottish athletes – across various events – that the one thing I am glad I haven’t been involved in has been choosing the short-lists!”

“As you can see, it is down to five names now and I think any athletics fan in Scotland or beyond looking at it right away will spot how difficult it has been. When you add in other athletes who won medals or broke national records then maybe the short-list could have gone right up to 8-10 athletes and still been very credible indeed.

“All five of these are great nominations and, as I said, I can see how tough it has been for the Awards panel to come up with a short-list. And there’s a lot of talent there, too, on the age group awards and fine performers in the Masters and Para categories, as well.”

Zoey Clark, Maria Lyle, Mark Dry and Eilish McColgan won international track and field medals this year at the World Indoors, Commonwealths or Europeans as well as Doyle, Muir and Wightman, while Beth Dobbin and Chris O’Hare smashed Scottish outdoor records at 100m and 1500m respectively.

The FPSG Para Athlete of the Year short-list reflects the medal success of Scottish race runners at the European Championships with nominations for Hannah Dines and Gavin Drysdale – with the other two contenders being Maria Lyle and marathon runner Derek Rae.

Callum Hawkins won the FPSG Athlete of the Year award in 2017, with Muir, Doyle and Lynsey Sharp having dominated the preceding half-dozen years.

On Laura Muir, Holmes said: “Laura Muir has had a cracking year and that was confirmed by a number one ranking for 2018 in the 1500m by the IAAF, which is a great achievement.

Photo: Getty Images

“The World Indoors in Birmingham in early March really set her up. To win two medals in three days with a bronze in the 3000m followed by a silver in the 1500m was a great achievement – and especially when snow and ice made travelling so difficult in Britain that week!

“I think those medals boosted her confidence even more for the European Championships in Berlin and she dominated that 1500m final to win well. To then go and win the Diamond League final really was the icing on the cake for the season and again she came up with a special performance that night in Brussels to win from the front – the way she loves.

“Laura has already taken a couple of my British records but I will try not to hold that against her!”

When it came to Robbie Simpson, Holmes added: “Robbie Simpson is a name everyone know now after bronze in that Gold Coast marathon at the Commonwealths.”

Photo: Bobby Gavin

She continued: “I don’t think anyone can argue that Robbie proved he is one of the fittest men in British athletics with that performance in those stamina-sapping hot conditions, which unfortunately struck down Callum Hawkins (and a few others) that day.

“He’s impressed since then in road and hill races – including winning the Jungfrau Marathon in the Alps. I understand this is the second time in his career Robbie has been short-listed for the main award which is great for him.”

RELATED: Callum Hawkins collapses as Robbie Simpson bags marathon bronze

Finally on Jake Wightman, Holmes said: “What can I say about Jake Wightman? What a year! Jake stepped up in 2018 and he was superb at the Commonwealths with fourth in the 800m and bronze in the 1500m – not too many British athletes are taking on that middle distance double nowadays and I know from personal experience how tough that is!

Photo: Bobby Gavin

“Jake then peaked again to get bronze at the Europeans in an amazing 1500m final and the last I saw him in race action he was winning the 5th Avenue Mile in New York against Nick Willis, who has two Olympic medals to his name. Jake really has had a breakthrough 12 months.”

Short-lists for 2018 FPSG Awards

FPSG Athlete of the Year:
Eilidh Doyle; Charlotte Morgan; Laura Muir; Robbie Simpson; Jake Wightman

U20 Athlete of the Year:
Anna Macfadyen; Alisha Rees; Erin Wallace

U17 Athlete of the Year:
Scott Brindley; Kane Elliott; Ellie O’Hara; Keira Waddell

Masters Athlete of the Year:
Zara Asante; Fiona Matheson; Charlotte Morgan; Alastair Walker

FPSG Para Athlete of the Year:
Hannah Dines; Gavin Drysdale; Maria Lyle; Derek Rae

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Laura Muir and fellow medallists Eilish McColgan and Jake Wightman are among the 13 European medal-winning British athletes looking to continue their memorable 2018 seasons at the Müller Grand Prix Birmingham on Saturday (August 18) at the Alexander Stadium.

Confirmed to be competing alongside the 12 other individual medallists who secured medals for Great Britain in Berlin, Muir was one of several athletes to make history at the European Championships as she became the first British female ever to win 1500m European outdoor gold.

Now aiming to make further history this coming weekend, Muir will take to the track in Birmingham with the aim of breaking Dame Kelly Holmes’ 21-year-old 1000m British record of`2:32.55.

“We British athletes are incredibly lucky to have such a great event straight on the back of a major championships,” said Muir. “It gives us the opportunity to say thank you to the amazing British fans for all of their support through the European Championships, and obviously, we all want to put on a show for them and perform really well too.

“I’ve had some great times in Birmingham – I remember that when I broke the British 1000m record indoors there last February the crowd were so loud that I couldn’t hear my footsteps or sense where anyone else was in the race – it was crazy – so I’m sure it’ll be much the same on Saturday at the Alexander Stadium.”

On Dame Kelly Holmes’ time to beat, 2:32.55, Muir added: “First and foremost, I am looking to win the race but if I can break the British record in doing so that would be fantastic.

“1000m is a distance I don’t often run over, but I am looking forward to the challenge and just going out there and hopefully putting on a show for the home crowd.

“You know that any record held by Dame Kelly Holmes is going to be a tough one to beat, but I feel in really good shape and am going to go after it with everything I’ve got.”

Further history was made in the women’s 1500m as Laura Weightman claimed European bronze – the first time two British females have both been on the same European podium – with Weightman running over the same distance in Birmingham.

A silver medal star over 5000m at the Olympiastadion, Eilish McColgan will run over the shorter distance of 3000m in Birmingham, with fellow Scot Jake Wightman racing the 800m, an event in which he continues to perform brilliantly as he continues to develop as one of Britain’s brightest middle-distance prospects.

RELATED: Muir wins 1500m gold, Weightman bronze and McColgan takes 5000m silver

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First, you have to ask what events are worth watching as a running fan? Curling isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and figure skating is popular with the masses on a Saturday night. Yet is anything as good as watching a decent mile race or a marathon record attempt?

If it’s head to head racing you like then there are three favourite events – cross country skiing, speed skating and the snowboard/ski cross.

So after some in-depth statistical analysis (that didn’t really happen) here are the five runners that have the potential to make a great splash if they swapped the ovals for the colder version of the Olympics.

Speed skaters – Mo Farah and Paul Chelimo

Speed skating is a tactical showpiece with positioning a key element. Largely because huge crashes wipe out the whole field leaving anyone in a position to win.

High speeds, crashes and underdog heroes should make this a favourite event of any running fan.

So with it being a tactical race with the potential for falling, who’s the best athlete at both of those things? Mo Farah has come back from a fall to win before and most of his Olympic golds have been down to his tactics and fast finishes. So how about it Mo, Paul Chelimo and Muktar Edris…isn’t it time you battled on the ice?

The whole of Iten – Kenyan XC ski squad

Now cross country skiing is looking like it’s getting embroiled in it’s own doping issues at the moment, but it is one of the finest endurance events on the planet. The athletes regular set VO2 Max records and 50km races come down to a photo finish. Who could be a top cross country skier then?

A big engine is needed, but also a level of technical skill. The Scandinavians have been brought up on skis for generations, but there is actually a British athlete, Andrew Musgrave, who has a chance of medalling so maybe there’s hope for other non-snow nations too.

With that in mind, wouldn’t you love to see the whole Kenyan squad try out at the 50km Cross Country Ski? It has been done before, back in 1998, when a Nike sponsored project saw Philip Boit and a fellow Kenyan, both former middle distance runners with no prior skiing experience, head to Finland to train for the discipline.

Boit went on to become the first Kenyan cross country skier at the Winter Olympics… it’s it time for his legacy lived on.

Ski Cross – Emma Coburn

The American world steeplechase champion is good at jumping over things and racing in crowds, some of the things needed in the ski cross. We have no idea if Coburn can ski, but she’s from Crested Butte, Colorado so it’s not impossible.

With all the dramatic finishes in the ski cross, where arms and legs can be thrown across the finish line for a position, Coburn’s never say die attitude could clinch her another medal.

Bobsleigh – Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin, Christian Coleman and Yohan Blake

What would happen if you took the fastest four men from the 2017 World Championships and did a remake of “Cool Runnings”?

Most likely they would just push the bobsleigh really fast for the first 20-30 metres and then let it go, but if John Candy were still alive he get them into shape surely.

Biathlon – Paul Chelimo and Kelly Holmes

The biathlon is a mixture of endurance and marksmanship, so who better than two world-class runners who also served in the army?

Olympic silver medalist Paul Chelimo is still enlisted in the US army and previously told Fast Running: “My job is a soldier first and an athlete later.”

Certainly has the endurance to be a biathlete, as well as the marksmanship. What do you reckon about the skis though?

Kelly Holmes, 800m and 1500m gold medallist might have to run for a bit longer than her specialist distance. But that shouldn’t be a problem for the former army sergeant who is a fantastic all-round athlete having won an army judo title and a heptathlon event during her career.

Who would bet against Holmes picking up cross-country skiing?

So for those who thought the Winter Olympics wasn’t for them, think again. The brilliant mixture of speed, endurance, tactics and falling over can be seen in abundance in South Korea this month.

However, if you just want to see a British medal, then curling is probably your best bet.

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