REEKIE ON BACK FOOT OVER SHOE QUESTIONS
THE elephant in the room remains, running laps at improbable speed. It has been two weeks since Jemma Reekie came to wider attention with an astonishing performance and it is an ongoing oddity that she is not allowed to discuss the obvious. When she was asked by
Sportsmail yesterday about the prickly issue of her running spikes, the question was shut down. Indeed, those attending her press conference ahead of today’s Muller Indoor Grand Prix were told by PR handlers in advance that none would be permitted under threat of cancellation by her coach. And that is a shame, because so long as the question of shoes goes unanswered there will be sceptics who doubt how much of Reekie’s amazing and sudden rise is down to her legs, mind and lungs, and how much is owed to the prototype Nikes on her feet. Her team are adamant they do not include the carbon plates that have achieved infamy of late, but it would be helpful if she was permitted to put forward her own opinion. What is beyond doubt is that she is a major talent riding a breakthrough. She will today contest the 1500m at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow a fortnight after breaking the 10-year-old British indoor 800m record on the track — she clocked the fastest time in the world for 14 years — and a week on from breaking both Laura Muir’s indoor 1500m and mile records in the same race. By beating Muir in that 800m race, with both women in comparable footwear, she has underlined her credentials early in an Olympic year. It is an irritation typical of the wider sport that the training partners under Andy Young will not be let loose on each other today — despite the desire of the organisers — as Muir will instead pursue Maria Mutola’s 21-year-old world record in the 1,000m. Asked if they will now avoid racing each other in the manner of Seb Coe and Steve Ovett, whose meetings were mostly limited to major events, Muir said: ‘We both run the 800 and 1500m and we both run similar times — we’re not going to be avoiding it.’