£1500 BILL GETS LAURA 3000 GONG
LAURA MUIR hailed a cab from Glasgow to Birmingham then rode her luck to bag a brilliant bronze.
The super Scot scrapped her way into a three-way fight for 3000 metres victory before Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba surged clear to make it a hat-trick of wins.
Muir burst every lung as she hunted down Dutch rival Sifan Hassan before missing out on silver by onehundredth of a second in a season’s best of 8:45.78.
After a £1500 six-hour taxi dash through the snow on Wednesday it was one of the toughest runs of the trainee vet’s career.
She said: “This time yesterday I was in a taxi halfway down the M6 and it was crazy,. We couldn’t see the bonnet, the windscreen wipers were freezing and we got here at 11pm.
“Then it was a matter of trying to prepare as best as possible before the race and put yesterday behind us.
“I was hurting on that last lap but I had to dig deep and got a medal. The crowd were great and good on them for coming out to support.
“I’ll see my therapist and speak to my coach but now it’s a matter of refuelling and going again in the 1500m.
“I can’t describe the feeling, it was brilliant to get a European medal but to get one on the world stage in a world-class 3000m makes me happy.”
Muir’s Dundee Hawkhill clubmate Eilish McColgan came in 10th – 16 seconds behind the winner.
Now Perthshire ace Muir hopes to do even better when the 1500m kicks off with tonight’s semi-finals.
The 24-year-old added: “As time goes by you get more and more experienced as an athlete, how to run races, how your competition runs. That’s showing now.
“Two golds last year on the Euro stage, a bronze now on the world stage – I know the ability is there. It’s just a matter of trying to judge a race tactics wise. I¹m improving year on year.”
Zoey Clark will run in today’s 400m heats after making Muir’s journey seem like a breeze.
The world 4x400m relay medallist pitched up last night after a two-day nightmare that saw two flights cancelled then a 10-hour drive from Aberdeen.