Luke McCann now believes he belongs

MAKING STRIDES: ‘I want to not just be an Olympian, but someone who can compete,’ says Luke McCann, who has the Paris Olympics firmly in his sights

There was a time Luke McCann would just be happy to be there – pitched in with the elite of athletics, feeling like a chump who’d gate-crashed a parade of champions. It was in May last year, and the UCD student was in Ostrava, Czech Republic, for his first ever Continental Tour Gold meeting.

Mondo Duplantis; Joshua Cheptegei; Sha’Carri Richardson – the celebs of his sport were all around, and as McCann toed the line over 1500m, taking on a two-time world medallist in Marcin Lewandowski, he was far from confident.