It is not uncommon for children to emulate their parents and Lynsey Sharp from Edinburgh is no exception. Aged 23 and currently training at Loughborough University, Lynsey’s parents were both top athletes with her Dad (Cameron Sharp) an Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the 4x100m relay in 1978. Her mother Carol also represented Scotland in the 800m, the same event that Lynsey is currently focusing on for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

800m roughly equates to eight lengths of a football pitch or, in Lynsey’s case, two laps of a full size running track. But behind those two laps is hours of dedication poured into her trade both on and off the track and she often calls upon her parents for support: “I learn a lot from them and they understand, even possibly more than me what it takes. I often turn to them for advice with the media, injuries, success – I’m always emailing my dad and on the phone to my Mum. My Mum has learnt over the years when I want to talk about athletics and she knows when I don’t.”

One of Lynsey’s first major championships was the 2008 Youth Commonwealth Games in India where she collected a bronze medal and since then she has gone from strength to strength. 2012 saw her win silver at the European Championships, a result which was recently upgraded to gold following a doping violation by the Russian race winner and she also made the 800m semi-final on her Olympic debut: “I’ve only watched my London race back on Youtube once but if you watch it, the girl on the lane inside of me covers her ears because my introduction was so loud. It was an amazing environment, the crowd were awesome.”

The Moscow 2013 Athletic World Championships start on Saturday 10 August and seven Scots will be present in the Team GB & NI lineup, but unfortunately, Lynsey Sharp will not be one of them. Suffering from a foot injury which has kept her out of action since May, Lynsey said: “I will watch it on TV because there is a lot of Scots out there, but I probably will give the Women’s 800m a miss, it will only frustrate me.”

“I will make time to support my countrymen/women, but being injured is just as busy as if I were fully training. I have physio, training twice a day and loads of rehab so I’m just as busy as before really, it’s just boring when everyone leaves for competitions.”

“I was actually trying to get back competing for the end of this year, but because next year is so important with Glasgow, I’ve decided not to rush my comeback. Missing this year has made me more focused on next year, it has challenged me to be in the best shape possible for Glasgow.”

You can follow Lynsey on Twitter: @LynseySharp

Photo credit: Getty Images