Aberdeen AAC’s Zoey Clark was put through an emotional rollercoaster in a dramatic and controversial 4x400m relay on the final day of the world athletics championships in Birmingham.
The youthful British quartet – weakened by the absence of individual 400m bronze-medallist Eilidh Doyle who was forced to pull out with a slight calf strain – initially finished fourth behind the United States, who won in a championship record 3min 23.85sec. Jamaica took second with Poland earning third.
Officials then disqualified the Jamaicans for a lane infringement at one of the changeovers and Clark, pictured below, and her team were promoted to the bronze-medal position.
But within a matter of minutes confusion reigned once again when it was announced that Britain was also being disqualified for illegal pushing.
A long, nervous and frustrating wait then ensued while appeals were considered from both Jamaica and the hosts.
Finally, an outcome was reached. The Jamaican appeal was dismissed, the British objection was upheld and the home side was reinstated to the bronze-medal slot – much to the delight of bemused spectators who had witnessed a remarkable 21 disqualifications during the championships.
Clark’s coach Eddie Mckenna was simply relieved it all came good at the end of the day and he was understandably delighted that the Aberdeen athlete was able to add an indoor world medal to the outdoor championship one she earned in the relay in London last August.
He also praised Clark’s performances in the individual 400m earlier in the cham-pionships in which she exceeded expectations by reaching the final in which she finished sixth, recording 52.16sec, just a fraction of a second outside her best.
Mckenna said: “Obviously I am amazed and excited that Zoey has won her second global medal and appeared in her first world 400m final. It was nailbiting at the end.
“She is still relatively inexperienced in indoor 400m running and she never trained at all on a banked track.
“Until this weekend no Scottish woman had ever reached an indoor final in the 400m, but now Zoey and Eilidh have done that.
“It’s the start of an exciting era for Zoey and our plan has to be to build on this and to cement her position as one of the top 400m runners in the world. Credit has to go to the world-class team we have around us in Aberdeen.
“My dream is that we’d find people and support from business to build the future talent we have in the north-east because global medals are never won without all aspects of coaching and support being in place. But right now I am so proud of an extraordinary athlete.”
Scots collected four of the seven medals won by Britain in the championships. Aside from Clark and Doyle, Laura Muir (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers) picked up silver in the 1,500m and bronze in the 3,000m.
Andrew Pozzi collected Britain’s second gold of the championships, and the only men’s medal, in the final individual track event of the day, winning a thrilling 60m hurdles.
Britain’s other gold came earlier in the championships from Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the pentathlon.
Shelayna Oskan-Clarke completed the medal haul with a bronze gong in the 800m race.
