Megan Keith ready to test herself at World Athletics Road Running Championships

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Megan Keith is ready to embrace the unknown this weekend as she makes her debut at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen.

The Scottish athlete will swap the track for the road on Saturday after a memorable season to date with the highlight coming at Glasgow 2026 when she finished third in the 5,000m, much to the delight of a passionate home crowd at Scotstoun.

Speaking to STV ahead of this weekend’s 5k road race, Keith said: “I’m excited. I’m quite new to road racing, and I’ve never done a championship on the road before, so it’s going to be a lot of firsts, and I’m hoping to have a good experience.

“I think it’s probably going to be a lot more attritional than the track is. I imagine there will be less tactics involved and more just pure flat-out racing, which I’m really looking forward to and I think from cross country, I have learnt that, so I’m hoping I can use skills I’ve learned in other places and take it onto the roads. It will just be a big learning experience for me.”

Commonwealth Games ‘proudest’ moment of career so far

The 24-year-old produced one of the standout moments from this year’s Commonwealth Games as she won bronze with her 100-year-old grandpa watching on from the stands at Scotstoun.

Reflecting on her medal success two months on, she said: “Life has not changed too much. I feel like I might get recognised a bit more in Edinburgh, which is quite funny because outside of the athletics bubble, I feel like I can normally just go about my day-to-day life, but particularly in the weeks following the Commonwealth Games, I was definitely getting a few more shouts than normal.

“Since then, I’ve just been back into training and you are always focusing on the next competition, so there has not been too much time to stop and really let it soak in.

“It’s definitely up there with my proudest moments of my career so far.”

Just two weeks after the Commonwealth Games, Megan Keith was back in action at the European Championships in Birmingham where she finished eighth in the 10,000m Getty Images

Strong September for Scottish athletics

The Road Running Championships come just a week after the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships which saw Josh Kerr crowned 1500m champion to add to his mile world record and Commonwealth Games gold.

On the same weekend, Jemma Reekie won the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York, while at the start of September, Eilish McColgan won the Big Half in London after five months out.

And this weekend Keith will not be the only Scot competing with Livingston athlete Sarah Calvert making her senior GB debut when she lines up in the mile.

Reflecting on the success of the Scots recently, Keith said: “I think Scotland definitely holds its own on the European and World stage now, which is really exciting.

“They are all people I really look up to so I find a bit funny that I’m mentioned in the same sentence as all these Scottish stars, but it’s definitely a very special time to be part of Scottish athletics.”

From Glasgow 2026 to Glasgow 2027

After success at Glasgow 2026, Keith has her sights set on another major event heading to the city next year.

For the first time ever, Glasgow will host the European Cross Country Championships in December 2027 – an event which the Inverness athlete won silver in last year when it was held in Portugal.

She said: “I was super excited to hear that there was a bid in, and that it was successful. I have December 2027 as one of my next big goals so I’m really looking forward to being back on the mud before then.”

But for now, Keith’s full focus is on Saturday’s 5k race in Copenhagen.

Megan Keith races in the women’s 5k at 1.10pm on Saturday, while compatriot Sarah Calvert will be in action at 9.30am in the mile.