Double Olympic and world Jakob Ingebrigtsen will also be competing over the 1500m distance against Arizona-based Giffnock North athlete Gourley and his fellow Scots.
“Off the top of my head, I think I’m ranked outside the top 30 in terms of season’s bests this year so that probably tells you a lot about the depth of the event just now,” said Gourley.
“I’m pretty confident in saying I’ll finish higher than that. I’d love to outperform that ranking and I think I will, but it gives you a sense of how deep the event has got.
“Not just the people at the top – the top 20 are all quite close together and there are so many people running under three minutes 30 seconds in the 1500m and that used to be a time that maybe one or two people a year would run.
“It’s now become so commonplace that it’s got silly, if anything. At the same time, it only counts for so much when you all line up at a championship – and I’m looking forward to beating plenty of people ranked ahead of me.”
To help with that, Gourley has taken himself away to a special preparation camp in a location that makes him feel like he is on holiday.
A fair few would swap places with him in Hawaii where, as well as some specialist training sessions, he has also been able to enjoy a little rest and recovery.
“I have spent some time at the beach because it would be a bit rude not to,” he added.
“I’d love to learn how to surf, somebody’s got to teach me one day. Actually, I just kind of swim around in the waves until I crash out onto the shore. That’s about as adventurous as I get.”
It may take a bolder approach on the track but if he can safely negotiate the rounds in Tokyo, Gourley will feel on safe ground if he gets to another global 1500m final to round off his year.
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