FORWARD planning, Nicole Yeargin admits, is a skill in need of fine-tuning as she passes through the one-year mark as a professional athlete. There has been a single vital insight that has kept the 24-year-old’s tour on the road. “At the end of day, you pay people,” she proclaims. “That's one thing my coach has helped me with. He was like, 'dude, just ask your agents, tell them to do it.' I wasn't doing that before.”
The world championships begin in Oregon today with the American-raised Scot poised for a shot at the first medal up for grabs within Hayward Field in the mixed 4x400 metres relay. Foresight, however, seems a component absent from the family DNA.
Her mother Lynn, an immigrant to the USA three decades ago, is back in Dunfermline on a long-planned visit home. American dad Carlos is on the right side of the Atlantic but will also be watching on TV. “There was no tickets left, I don't receive any,” she reveals. “And Eugene is just one of those cities, there's just not a lot of accommodation available. Hotel prices? It's extortion. So it was just way too last-minute for him.”
No FOMO there, then. A risk, given that the UK’s potential mixed relay line-up looks a little stronger than at the Tokyo Olympics where they came sixth in Yeargin’s international debut for Mom’s homeland. That excursion, to her surprise, served to strengthen the connection with her roots in Fife.
Family – her granny foremost - and friends, they came out to greet her upon her return there after the Games. Lauded and loved in a spot where she was a mere tourist as a child, touching down now as their very own homespun heroine.
“They always talk about getting the Olympic blues afterward,” she recounts. “After all the travel and the highs and lows of that trip to Tokyo, I just wanted to really chill. And Scotland's a great place to do that.
“Visiting Pitreavie Athletics Club and seeing the kids, they were all excited to talk to me and ask some questions. It really warms your heart. It makes them feel good that you're there, interacting with them. And it also makes me feel good that I actually have a lot of people who look up to me and wish me well. That was the best part of the Olympic experience.”
The world moves on though. Now for a triple whammy: worlds, then Commonwealth Games and European Championships inside barely 35 days. Opportunities to properly put the past year’s tweaks and teachings into practice and see where it leads.
It has not merely been the logistics that has taxed her. Before Tokyo, at university in California, a protective bubble surrounded Yeargin. Since graduation, she has had to fend for herself. This is her day job now. Bills must be paid from income raised. It brings a pressure all of its own.
That has taken adjustments, she confides. “Not letting how I feel, my emotions, dictate my practice: that's one thing that I can go into the season next year with - just being a pro.
“You're trying to be number one in the world. Trying to beat the person next to you. But knowing if I want to be number one, I can't make room for off-days. I need to learn how to push through my bad days. Because you're not going to feel 100 per cent every day.”
A gruelling ten days lie in store in Eugene with the individual 400m to follow and then, to conclude, the women’s 4x400 relay. The form that has taken a rejuvenated Matt Hudson-Smith to the men’s 400m UK record this summer could spark an unexpected initial mixed medal for the Brits on Day One.
“We always have a chance,” Yeargin said. “Everyone just needs to run their best race on the day. With going first as well before any of the other events, and knowing the guys won’t have a 4x400, they’ll be really fired up for a chance to get us a medal.”
