World Championships: 'I trained for marathon in my shed,' says Callum Hawkins

Callum Hawkins was unable to improve upon his fourth-place finish at London four years ago

Callum Hawkins did much of his training in his shed before his excellent performance led him to narrowly miss out on a marathon medal at the World Championships.

The Scot was only six seconds from a medal but ultimately finished fourth.

The result comes 18 months after the 27-year-old collapsed from a leading position in the Commonwealth Games due to overheating.

And Hawkins admits he prepared for the heat of Doha through unorthodox means.

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"I was out in Spain for two weeks and then when I came home to Scotland I did a bit of work in the heat chamber, but most of it was done in a wooden shed at the back of the house with two heaters to try and make it as hot as possible," said Hawkins, who finished fourth at London 2017 championships.

"It definitely helped. The conditions were a lot better than what was forecasted last week. Humidity was down, so I think that was the main point.

"But at no point was I overheating and I definitely wasn't going to do a repeat of what happened at the Gold Coast. I finished this time.

"I've run well in the heat before. I ran well in Rio de Janeiro and other hot races. The Gold Coast and the way people were talking about the conditions - that got me a bit worried.

"But I don't think it was much of a factor. I don't think many people suffered."

Hawkins caught the leading trio with 1km to go in Saturday night's event, however the Scot was unable to keep up when they pulled away in the final stages with a full sprint.

Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa won in two hours 10 minutes 40 seconds, ahead of compatriot Mosinet Geremew and Kenyan Amos Kipruto.

"I gave it everything in the last two laps to get back on, but I knew they were just waiting for a kick and a big sprint finish," said Hawkins.

"That's why as soon as I got to the front I tried to run them off. The two Ethiopians and Kipruto were just too quick in the end but I gave it my all.

"I really wanted a medal. I was fourth last time and I really wanted to do at least one better, but the boys were too strong in the end.

"Hopefully it's enough to gain pre-selection for Tokyo and show that I'm at least close to medal potential, but Tokyo is going to be even harder."