Andrew Coscoran went into last summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo ranked 41st. The Balbriggan athlete wasn’t expecting to advance from the heats but had a major breakthrough in his career in doing so to qualify for the semi-final.
“You get a bit of confidence when you show up to a world class event and you’re able to be competitive,” Coscoran tells the Irish Runner just two days out from his heat at the World Championships.
“It (the Olympics) has given me a lot of confidence coming into Worlds now.”
Coscoran has had a remarkably busy season running ten races across Europe. Back in June he ran a Season’s Best of 3.36.54 in Hengelo and most recently won the Morton Mile in Santry after a thrilling battle with Cathal Doyle in a time of 3.57.09.
“I think the idea this year was just to get a lot of race experience under my belt, and I definitely did that. I’ve ran ten races this season already and I’ve been bouncing from one to the other feeling great.”
Having made an Olympic semi-final, Coscoran now wants to go one step forward and make the final at the World Championships. It will be a tough task. He begins his quest to reach Wednesday morning’s (Irish Time) final tomorrow at 2:30am when he runs in Heat 1 alongside the likes Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera and Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot. The twenty-six-year-old is certainly not fazed by the challenge.
“I think the standard is quite similar to what it was last year,” he says. “A lot of guys are firing and running very well. I’m in better shape this year than I was in last year, I’ve more training behind me, I’m older and more experienced, so for me it should be easier to try and take a crack at a final. My heads in a spot now where I’m kind of aiming towards trying to qualify for the final so hopefully that’s achievable.”
Coscoran is hoping he can produce strong performances when it matters most.
“Throughout the season so far, I’ve kind of kept the milage up, kept the training going so the idea was to taper for the World Championships and Europeans so hopefully this will be my best race of the season, or best races of the season.”
Coscoran says that his plan is to “keep stepping up”. Were he to make the World Final it would be not just a step but a major leap forward in his athletics career.
The World Athletics Championships are broadcast live on BBC TV and live streamed on the World Athletics YouTube
