McColgan is set to compete at Tokyo 2020 in the 5,000 metres, which are set to be her third Games after she competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

She will hope to replicate the success of her mother Liz McColgan, who won gold in the 10,000m at the 1991 World Championships in the old Olympic Stadium - the same site of the new venue.

Speaking of moving up in distance from the familiar 5,000m and 10,000m, she spoke of the anxiety of changing discipline, but looked forward to changing eventually.

McColgan told the BBC: "It's a scary prospect but it's always been something I've wanted to do.

"I probably would have gone to it a little bit sooner had the Olympics not been delayed.

"For the following Olympic Games I'd hope to challenge for a spot on the marathon team."

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics was postponed by one year to 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

It is not the first time McColgan has changed discipline, having originally started as an elite athlete in the 3000m steeplechase, but due to injuries, she moved to flat events.

She competed at London 2012 in the steeplechase before making the final of the 5,000m at Rio 2016 not long after moving up in distance.

In 2017, she won bronze in the women's 3,000m at the European Indoor Championships and the following year won silver in the 5,000m at the European Championships behind The Netherlands' Sifan Hassan. 

It will not be her first venture into the longer distances having ran the Great South Run in October, breaking her mother's Scottish record for 10 miles in the process.

"After doing the Great South Run I've got comfortable over the 10-mile distance and it's given me confidence to look forward to my first half marathon," McColgan said.

The 29-year-old, who will be 33 in Paris, will look to follow in the footsteps of her teammate Callum Hawkins who moved from the 10,000m to the marathon and has since gone on to break the Scottish marathon record.

Hawkins infamously collapsed with two kilometres left at the 2018 Commonwealth Games marathon in the Gold Coast, but came close to medalling at the World Championships the following year, finishing in fourth place for a second straight Championships over the distance. 

Liz McColgan also transitioned to the marathon distance in her later years, winning the New York, Tokyo and London Marathons from 1991 to 1996, holding the Scottish record for 22 years until Steph Twell broke it last year.