Laura’s animal instinct
® LAURA MUIR hopes to give Britain a golden start to the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham this evening.
The Scot won double gold at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade a year ago and is aiming to repeat the feat on home soil.
She goes in the 3000m tonight before the heats of the 1500m tomorrow, followed by the final 24 hours later.
Then it will be back to the final few months of studies as a veterinary student in Glasgow.
“On Wednesday I was in hospital and on Thursday I am at the world champs, so it is a bit surreal,” said the 24-year-old.
“When I am out training, it is always in the background, always knowing you have things to do.
“Running helps a lot to clear the mind, helps me focus and put things into perspective.
“I have known from fellow final-year students how tough it is, the long hours involved just doing the veterinary itself.
“But to combine training, six days a week, multiple times a day...
“I had to email the vets to say I have this competition coming up and is it okay if I have a couple of days off. They were fine about it.”
Despite success in Belgrade she failed to win a medal at the World Championships in London.
She is the European indoor record-holder at 1000m and 3000m and the national indoor recordholder at 1000m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m.
Muir will have to dig deep tonight as the field includes Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba, whose world record is 8:16.90 compared to the Briton’s best of 8:26.41. O Greg Rutherford has pulled out of the long jump to focus on getting fit for the European Championships in Berlin in August.