AHEAD of Eilish McColgan’s silver medal-winning run at the European Championships in Berlin on Sunday evening, her mum, Liz, did something she’d never done before; she admitted to her daughter she was nervous.

“My mum texted me before the race saying she was really nervous for me - she’d never done that before and so I really don’t know why she told me!,” the 27-year-old said.

“I think it was because she knew I was in really good shape and that adds pressure. And she knows how tough the last few years have been for me so she just wanted things to go to plan.”

McColgan has had quite the struggle throughout the course of her senior career. The Dundee native, who is coached by her mum, has been forced to contend with numerous injuries which have kept her out of the sport for significant periods, as well as fighting illness at the start of this year which scuppered her Commonwealth Games preparations.

But recent months had seen everything go as smoothly as it ever had for McColgan and she travelled to Berlin armed with the knowledge she had a very real chance of winning her first major championship outdoor medal in the 5000m.

And as it transpired, she was right. This silver medal was McColgan’s second major championship medal in as many years having won bronze at the European Indoor Championships last year.

But with the tactics of outdoor races often scuppering her ambitions of picking up silverware - the Scot has been involved in many a race that has seen the field jog round the opening laps before out-sprinting her in the closing stages - McColgan took her mum’s advice on how to execute her race.

“My mum had said the best way to run was to go out hard," she said.

"I texted her just before I went into the warm-up area and I said to her if I come off the track and I’ve run sub-15 minutes but I finish eighth, at least I’ll know that I’ve given it everything.

"And my dad texted me beforehand too saying that when I cross the line, make sure I’ve got no regrets. And actually, this race is probably the first time I’ve done that.

"It’s a scary way to race because, in a way, you feel like a sitting duck waiting for people to shoot at you but I knew that was the best way to run to suit me and I’m so happy that it worked out.”

McColgan’s second-place finish, behind the Netherlands’ Siffan Hassan, in a time of 14 minutes 53.05 seconds was hugely impressive and she admits that while the spot on the podium was pleasing, in fact the most satisfying aspect of the run for her was her ability to execute exactly the race she wanted, something she has not always accomplished.

“Going into these Championships, I was so nervous because I knew that it was such a high standard of race - a lot of the girls had moved out of the 1500m and up to the 5k so in European and world terms, it was probably one of the toughest endurance races of the entire meet."

And for someone who has suffered from something of a lack of self-belief at times, this achievement has done wonders for her confidence going forward.

"To be honest, I probably never truly believed in the past that I was good enough to be up there amongst those girls," she said.

"I came into the sport as a steeplechaser and had dreams of winning medals in that although it never transpired in that way.

"My first Europeans was in the 5k in Amsterdam (in 2016) and I remember coming away from that and being so disappointed because I just ran awful.

"I’m just so pleased that I could run a race that was beneficial to me rather than following everyone else’s race plan and getting out-kicked at the end.

"I’m really happy that I’ve come away with a medal. I knew coming into the event that I was ranked second so I had that pressure of knowing that on a good day, I could be up there. So to actually, finally, to get an outdoor medal was brilliant.”

For some, carrying the McColgan name would be quite a burden. Her mother’s achievements, including World Championship gold and Olympic silver, are not easy to live up to. But McColgan insists she has never felt her name has heaped undue pressure upon her and particularly with her mum coaching her, she does, in fact, enjoy working as a closely-knit team.

“There was probably more talk of me being a McColgan when I was younger and coming through in the sport,” she said.

“My mum is such a big part of my career and with her coaching me, she’s been such a big part of the journey. So the comparisons don’t really affect me because she's in this with me. Every time I cross the finish line, I feel like I’m doing it not just for myself but also for her and for my dad and Michael (Rimmer, an fellow GB athlete and McColgan's boyfriend) .

"But my mum is probably at the top of that tree, if you like, because she’s the person who plans it all out and puts it all together. So I feel like I’m doing it for the both of us rather than just for me. My mum is a huge inspiration to me and it’s pretty cool to be running in stadiums I know she’s competed in too. So it’s actually an honour and I’m so proud to be a McColgan.”

The European Championships may have been the last major meet of the year but McColgan’s season is far from finished. The Birmingham Diamond League this Saturday is her next outing before she will finish her year at the prestigious Continental Cup in September.

Having begun the year plagued with illness, McColgan admits to being thrilled with the way 2018 has panned out and can take plenty of positives into 2019. And for an athlete who has been blighted by injury and illness for too long, this European silver medal is perhaps a glimpse of what she can achieve when things come together.

“I feel like I’m just coming into myself now and I’m just beginning to feel good again after a pretty horrible couple of months at the start of the year," she said.

"This shows me that I wasn’t crazy at the start of the year when I was running so badly - you start to wonder why things are going so wrong. So it’s nice to know that something wasn’t right and it’s great to have got whatever it was out of my system. I’m just so glad to be illness and injury free and to have been able to go into a major championships in the best shape of my life.”