Vision becomes reality for Molly Scott's quantum leap

Molly Scott celebrates taking gold and a new national record of 7:16 in a re-run of the race

At the start of the year, Molly Scott cut out three paper digits, brushed across them in gold paint, then sellotaped them to the back of her phone. That’s where they sat, beneath a transparent cover, so she and everyone else could see the number she was trying to manifest into reality: 7.19.

At the time, the Carlow sprinter had a 60-metre personal best of 7.32 seconds, while the fastest time in history by an Irishwoman was Amy Foster’s 7.27. Getting to 7.19 from where Scott was would require the kind of quantum leap that few could truly see coming. But to her it made sense.

“I read this thing that if you’re trying to chase a goal, others should be able to see it and you should put it out into the world,” she says. “It might have sounded a bit crazy.”

But at the National Indoor Championships in Abbotstown last Sunday, it became a blissful reality.

Of course, Scott running that time had less to do with the universe bequeathing her a reward as with her vast talent and 10 years of tough, laborious work – the kind that honed her from a gifted 12-year-old speedster into a technically proficient 22-year-old sprint star.

The circumstances in which she broke the Irish record – following a farcical situation that led to the final being re-run – made it all the more impressive. “When chaos happens, I go into fight or flight (mode),” she says. “If things are too perfect, I find it more difficult.”

Of all the events she has excelled in over the years, the 60m seemed the one where Scott was most at home. There’s never been an Irish female sprinter who can start like her, which is why she was put on the opening leg of the 4x100m at the World U20 Championships in 2018, helping the Irish team to an historic silver medal.

At the age of 16 she ran an Irish U18 60m record of 7.42, though the hurdles was her biggest focus in the years that followed. For more than a decade, Scott has been coached by her mother, Dee, who had little background in athletics beyond competing in it until her mid-teens, but who set about upskilling herself to the best of her ability once she started life as a coach.

At times over the years Scott has trained with different groups but it never quite clicked the way it did with her mother – just the two of them at the track, trying to take on the world.

“I feel in this country my Mam is my best option by far,” she says. “The time and planning she puts into it is crazy. She holds me to a high standard and she’s tough on me sometimes but it’s what I need. She’s an amazing coach and I go out and do it for her as much as myself.”

Scott finished her law degree at IT Carlow last May but has since begun a two-year, part-time barrister of law degree at King’s Inn in Dublin. “I really love that and it takes me outside of athletics,” she says. “It’s hard, but I’m not the type who could just train all the time. I have to do something else.”

Since 2020 she has put hurdling on the back burner to focus on sprinting, and after 20 weeks of consistent, uninterrupted training in the autumn and winter, she came into this indoor season ready to fire. Scott broke the Irish 60m record at the Irish University Championships in January, but the 7.23 she clocked was bettered just four days later by Rhasidat Adeleke, who ran 7.21 in the US.

That weekend, Scott was competing for Ireland at the Dynamic New Athletics event in Glasgow, and could only smile through the friendly slagging from teammates about her short-lived record.

“Rhasidat breaking the record was the best thing that could have happened for me,” she says. “It put me on the ball and made me sharper. When it’s someone from your own country, it makes you think you can do it.”

Scott turned in below-par efforts in Glasgow and Birmingham before the nationals, where she lined up for the final thinking – knowing – she could reclaim the record from Adeleke. When the gun fired for the final, she knew Sarah Leahy had false-started in the lane alongside her – as did everyone watching– but with no recall gun she had to keep running, with no time recorded as she hit the finish in front.

“It was so blatant, I don’t know why it wasn’t recalled,” she says. “I was panicking through the whole race.”

At the finish she was incensed, and the athletes were told they could re-run the final 40 minutes later. She didn’t have much choice but to accept. Scott didn’t bother warming up for a third time, instead sitting by the call room and just waiting.

“I was frustrated, feeling really angry,” she says.

But in the re-run she was foot-perfect, her only memory of it being those moments after the finish, the race itself passing by in a state of transcendent flow – a race that took exactly 7.19 seconds.

And now it’s back to work: Molly and Dee, daughter and mother, athlete and coach, down at the track in IT Carlow or above in Abbotstown, preparing to take on the world’s fastest women.

It’s a little over two weeks until the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, and Scott knows she’d have to run below 7.15 to reach the final. That’s likely beyond her at this point in her career, but she also knows she can go faster. If Scott can walk away with another PB, it’ll be a job well done.

“I saw a tweet recently,” she says. “Training all winter is scientific but racing is an art, and that’s so true.” In a season that began with a piece of homemade craftsmanship, that race in Abbotstown was as close as she’s come to a masterpiece. Now there’s a blank canvas awaiting again – her options as exciting as they are endless.