Airdrie athlete Brodie Young hopes medal win boosts Commonwealth Games bid

Yahoo

21 hours ago

Airdrie athlete Brodie Young hopes he's done enough to secure a Commonwealth Games place after winning bronze at the European Under-23 Championships in Norway.
The Airdrie Harrier recorded a PB 45.34 to take third place in the men's 400m final in Bergen on July 19, which is inside the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark for Glasgow 2026.
And he hopes it's a platform to build on for his career.
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Young, who is a student at the University of New Mexico, finished just six hundredths of a second off the silver medal.
The 22-year-old said: 'It feels really good. Going into it, I wasn't overly expecting to come away with a medal, I was more just there to try and run a fast time – but I was happy to get both.
'That's me got the qualifying mark now, there are two rounds of selection – one at the start of October, one at the start of June – so hopefully now I have the standard, I'll get selected in one of those rounds.
'But I'm not 100 per cent sure on which one it will be.
'The whole final was really competitive, there were a lot of fast boys running in it.
'The weather was also really hot, so it was really difficult and challenging, and there were a lot of different factors.
'The last section of the race was really difficult, but there was that motivation with a medal being on the line, and that's what pushed me through it.'
Young has targeted Glasgow 2026, and says Bergen has given him a real boost.
He said: 'It's something I can build on, and it gives me a lot of motivation, especially moving on to next year, because the Commonwealth Games is going to be the main target.
'Being able to walk away with a European medal gives me a lot more confidence, going into training over the winter and starting my season.
'I'm going to be in the States for a while, but it's great over in New Mexico, with great facilities and coaches, and everything I've needed.
'It has really helped me this year, and having good team-mates there has pushed me on and aided me for how I've performed.'
It was a good weekend for Scottish athletes in Bergen, with Alyson Bell winning gold with the GB and NI women's 4x100m team, and Rebecca Grieve also took top prize with the GB women's 4x100m, in a championship record of 3:26.52.