[4] She is a member of Dundee's Hawkhill Harriers Club and is coached by her mother, former 10,000 metres World Champion and Olympic silver medallist Elizabeth Nuttall known more commonly during her racing career as Liz McColgan.

[14] At the 2008 Scottish Indoor Championships she won a bronze medal in the 1500 m.[14] McColgan was selected for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in India but suffered a major knee injury which took her a year-and-a-half to recover from.

[14] However, McColgan missed the 2011 World Championships, held in Daegu, South Korea, after breaking her foot at the London Diamond League.

[17] McColgan won two gold medals at the 2012 Scottish Universities Indoor Championships, placing first in both the 1500 and 3000 metres events.

[14] In June 2012 at a meeting in Oslo, Norway she ran a time of 9:38.45 to beat the Olympic 'A' qualification standard in the 3000 metres steeplechase.

[18] McColgan confirmed her qualification for the steeplechase at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London by winning the British trials in a time of 9:56.90.

[20][21] After achieving Olympic qualification, McColgan chose not to compete at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

[22] She competed for Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women's 3000 m steeplechase alongside compatriot Barbara Parker.

[29][30] A few weeks later, McColgan improved that personal best and set a new Scottish record in finishing eighth at the Brussels Diamond League.

[37] The Scotswoman finished tenth in the 5000 m event at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, setting another Scottish record of 14:46.17.

[43] At the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan, she failed to advance to the 5000 m final on 30 July,[44] finishing in 10th place of her heat in a time of 15:09.68.

[46][47] After a long track season, on 17 October, McColgan won her third consecutive Great South Run title in a time of 50:43, breaking Sonia O'Sullivan's course record and the European best mark for the 10 miles.

She took almost half a minute off Radcliffe's UK record, and two seconds off the previous European best held by Israel's Lonah Chemtai Salpeter.

[55][56] On 3 August, the 31-year-old claimed the first major title of her career as she won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

[58] The Dundonian continued her outstanding season at about a week later securing two additional medals at the 2022 European Championships in Munich.

[63] McColgan improved her own European 10 kilometres record by a second, when winning at the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow in October.

[67] On 4 March, after five weeks of altitude training in Colorado, McColgan broke Radcliffe's 21-year British 10,000 m record by 0.23 s with a time of 30:00.86 at the Sound Running The TEN in San Juan Capistrano, California.