MUIR ALL COE TO WIN TOKYO OLYMPIC GOLD

1 Laura MUIR (GB) 2 Gudaf TSEGAY (Eth) 3 Sifan HASSAN (Hol) 4 Shelby HOULIHAN (US) 5 Rababe ARAFI (Mor) LAURA MUIR’S historic double-double has convinced Seb Coe that she can become Olympic champion next year.

The jet-heeled vet became the first athlete ever to retain two titles at the European Indoor Championships when winning the 1500m and 3000m in Glasgow.

That prompted British team boss Neil Black to declare that she is “moving towards almost being a phenomenon. She is joining the Paula Radcliffe and Mo Farah type group.”

Yet while she now has five European titles and eight British or European records to her name, Muir has yet to make it globally.

But Lord Coe, boss of world athletics, feels sure her time will come at Tokyo 2020.

“Absolutely no question about it,” he said, when asked if she could win gold in Japan. “She’s come on a bundle.

“The difference between the good and the great is the ability to move your feet. The ability to change pace, whether it’s breaking clear of defenders or running clear of a pack – that’s what she’s got. You didn’t think there was ever going to be a moment that Laura was going to lose in Glasgow. She is in that purple patch as an athlete.

“It’s not a complacency, it’s not an ‘I deserve this and therefore…’, you just think you’re going to be better than anyone out there. And I sense that’s where she’s at now.”

A potential cloud emerged on Muir’s horizon last month when she smashed the British Indoor mile record wearing spikes that, it was claimed, may not comply with regulations.

Athletics rules say shoes must be “reasonably available” to all and Muir’s are believed to be prototypes.

But there has been no complaint lodged to the IAAF, the matter is not being investigated and Coe confessed: “I had shoes which weren’t reasonably available as they were modelled for my feet.

“So we’ve got to be careful how we define ‘reasonably available.’

“If you’ve got a spring coil underneath them, it’s a mechanical advantage. If they’re designed for the specific need of our top athletes I’m comforted companies are doing that.”