Josh Kerr once finished eighth in a Scottish U17 Men’s road race on the Greenock waterfront when the top six were liable to win selection for the London Mini Marathon.
A couple of years earlier, his Edinburgh AC team-mate Jake Wightman wrote a personal letter to the Scottish Schools selectors to give away his 1500m place for the British and Irish Schools International (SIAB) - because he felt an injury may impair his performance and the reserve should race instead.
A couple of years later, Neil Gourley finished fourth in the European U23 1500m final in Bydgoszcz when he was probably the pre-race favourite. Neil agonised over his tactics, fitness and preparation all the way home from Poland to Glasgow.
What do these vignettes tell us about the three GB and NI finalists in the Men’s 1500m at the World Champs in Tokyo?
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Firstly, that while Josh and Neil flourished in the United States and Jake in England, all three are clear graduates of the pathway for athletics in Scotland. We watched them in cross country, Age Group Champs, Grangemouth and Scottish Schools events as well as the London Mini Marathon (Josh qualified other years).
Secondly, and this still rings true this week, the path to glory in track and field is never a straight line upward graph. Like the 1500m semi-finals in Japan themselves, there are always fallers along the way.
But here we are with Josh, Jake and Neil in a big final for the third time in six years.
They first did so in 2019 at the World Champs in Doha and then again at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in the summer of 2022.
Two of the three have contested other finals and, of course, Jake in 2022 and Josh in 2023 are the last two World Champs gold medallists in the stellar event the Men’s 1500m has become.
The collective achievement simply cannot be under-estimated and there have been hurdles along the way this year.
Neil won a silver medal at the World Indoors back in March but that late indoor season finish seemed to affect him outdoors.
Jake for his part was coming back from injury and then missed the UK Champs and World Trials through illness. He was picked for Tokyo as a ‘discretioanry selection’.
Josh, second in the London Diamond League, didn’t race 1500m at the UK Champs and is always careful with his race plan as he seeks to peak for the big moments. With medals at the last two Olympics, his track record is good in this regard.
A classy individual and like Jake now in his 30s, Neil told BBC Scotland last week that the World title wins for Wightman in Oregon and Kerr in Budapest – as both trumped Jakob Ingebrigtsen – should have had more media coverage.
‘It's something that should have got more attention,’ said the Giffnock North AC athlete, who himself has European Indoor silver as well as that World Indoors silver and umpteen British titles.
‘It's brilliant, actually. I don't know if it's even appreciated enough.
‘I feel it is probably something that should be talked about more in an event that is at the peak of history in terms of depth right now - and we have had Scottish people at the top of the world in it.
‘I'm just proud to play a small part in it. Jake and Josh should have got more recognition for how tremendous those achievements are.’ With 3:27 (Josh) and 3:29 (Jake) as their Personal Bests, the Edinburgh AC duo have the tools if the final is a fast race.
The heats and semis have been won around the 3:35 mark which is why the crowd-scenes, elbows and fallers have happened.
Dutchman Niels Laros, who won the 800m and 5000m double at the European U23 Champs earlier this summer, is a major danger to anyone with medal hopes.
Timothy and Reynold Cheruiyot (no relation) will no doubt have the whole of Kenya cheering them on back in east Africa.
Jake for his part wants to savour the moment and rightly so.
‘More than anything in the countdown to Wednesday I will look back to see how far I have come to get to this point, as it has not been the best couple of years for me,’ he said.
‘There were points where I didn’t feel like I wouldn’t get back to this, as I felt there were so many things going against me. ‘ Dad Geoff will be commentating in the stadium as he was in Oregon in 2022 when Jake won.
Geoff, a former CEO of Scottish Athletics – perhaps he advised his boy to write that letter to the Scottish Schools selectors - went viral from America with the memorable footage: ‘Jake Wightman is the new World champion – and he’s my son.’ Kerr’s family felt the same surge of pride the following year in Budapest.
Whatever drama unfolds, all three will remain brilliant sporting representatives of Scotland.
