TWITTER is rarely the place for a nuanced observation which is why Nicole Yeargin recently felt the need to add a second explanatory tweet following the reaction she gained to her first one.
'Scottish National Record: 50.71’, she wrote in all innocence. Congratulations, likes and retweets quickly followed, forcing the Maryland-born 400m athlete to clarify just what she meant.
‘I didn’t break it yet I’m just saying what it is lol,’ she explained, just in case Scottish Athletics officials came chapping at her metaphorical door asking what was going on.
It was telling that the 24 year-old used the word “yet” in her clarification as breaking a record that has stood since she was just one year-old has become one of her key targets for this season.
Having graduated last year from the University of Southern California, Yeargin – whose mum hails from Dunfermline – has settled in Texas where she is now devoting herself full-time to athletics.
Hers has been a dramatic rise, her times earning her a place in last year’s Team GB Olympic squad where she picked up a rare disqualification in the 400m and was part of two relay teams that finished outside the medals.
Still, Yeargin is undeterred ahead of what could be another pivotal year for her. This is a busy summer for athletics with the world championships, Commonwealth Games and European championships taking place and the former Kent State student has her sights set on competing in all three. Given her heritage, the chance to run in a Scotland vest is something that holds particular appeal.
“I feel like I’ve been running really well since moving to Texas from LA,” she says. “I’ve been doing so much volume which is different to what I’ve done in the past.
“I’m in spikes pretty much every day, putting the work in and feeling good. I’m definitely targeting the Commonwealth Games, the worlds and the Euro champs – I’m going to try to do them all.
“I’m on GB funding now so I speak pretty regularly with them. We just had a relay meeting a couple of weeks ago so I'm still in the loop with that.
“I’m confirmed for Birmingham, definitely, that’s in the sights. It will be nice to race for Scotland instead of GB. I wonder what the vests look like this year?!
“I’ve been told because it’s being held in the UK there are going to be a lot of Scottish people there watching so that’s pretty cool.”
Yeargin knew what the Scottish 400m record was but not when it was set. It belongs to Allison Curbishley who set the landmark back in 1998 at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. It would be a nice twist if Yeargin could go under that time at the same competition but, ambitious as ever, she hopes it may fall even before then.
“I didn’t mean to confuse people with the tweet about the record!” she adds. “I was putting it out there saying what it was with a thinking emoji to say that’s what I want to do.
“And people were congratulating me and I thought, ‘oh my gosh. I’ve just started something I didn’t mean to start!’ I guess that’s what can happen on social media so I had to put out a double tweet to explain.
“Oh, the record was set at the Commonwealth Games? No way! That’s good to know. It would be great to beat it in Birmingham which is my next 400m [at the Diamond League event on May 21] but if not it would be great to get the record before the worlds or the Commonwealths.
“I ran 51.3 a few weeks ago so I’m back on top. It’s been a crazy journey so far these last few years and I can look back and see that I’ve improved my time with every track meet.
“When I ran 51.3 it was in windy conditions and I’d run in the 4x100m shortly before that. So I know that I can run faster again as I’m getting better year on year.”
Any disappointment at how Tokyo unfolded for her was quickly washed away during a three-week trip to visit her grandmother in Dunfermline on her way back to the States. It was the perfect pick-me-up and also allowed Yeargin to get stuck into the Scottish delicacies she remembers from her regular childhood trips across the Atlantic.
“I was just chilling, it was great,” she recalls. “My grandmother has got two retired guide dogs so I was just hanging out with the dogs, visiting my uncle, going to ladies’ lunches and stuff like that.
“I’d been travelling all summer so that was all I wanted to do. My mum came over from the States for the last week which was nice.
“My grandmother fed me well. Too well! I must have eaten bacon butties twice a day, every day! We had to go to the shop to get more as I was eating it so fast. I love the Scottish bacon – you can’t get that in the States. But that’s maybe a good thing.”
