RECORD BREAKER
Muir shatters Holmes’ mark with stunning 1,500m triumph
ANNIVERSARY GAMES: SEE PAGE 100
ANEW British athletics star rose last night as Laura Muir snatched the British 1,500m record off Dame Kelly Holmes at the Anniversary Games.
The 23-year-old Scot will jet off to the Rio Olympics in excellent form after storming home in 3min 57.49 seconds to beat the time of 3min 57.90 seconds Holmes set in winning gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Muir, who is a student of veterinary medicine at the University of Glasgow, looked dumbfounded as she crossed the line and glanced up at the scoreboard to discover she had broken the record.
Muir said: ‘Breaking the British record blows my mind a bit. I haven’t run a fast 1,500m this year, so I wanted to go out there and show the world what I can do.
‘Sorry Kelly, it’s something I’ve always looked at. As I’ve always said, I run for times, I run for places, I run for medals.
‘Rio is my first Olympics and it’ll be different. It won’t be as fast and it’ll be tactical and scrappy, but I am ready.’
Holmes tweeted: ‘Amazing run… knew you could do it. Records are there to be broken.’
As always when he is in town, the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Usain Bolt as he jogged over the line to win the 200m in 19.90sec, dismissing any worries about his form or fitness.
The 29-year-old has run just four competitive races this year, his best effort a 9.88sec 100m dash in his adopted home of Kingston, Jamaica, last month.
This was his first and final outing over 200m before attempting to retain his three gold medals in Rio. The time suggests he is the fifth best man in the world this year but his reputation demands he be installed as favourite. Britain’s Adam Gemili recorded a season’s best of 20.07sec to finish third behind Panama’s Alonso Edward.
Sweating profusely afterwards, Bolt promised further improvement. ‘I’m getting there. I’m not fully in shape. I need more work,’ he said, ‘But over time I’ll be fine, I’ll just keep doing the work. The key thing is I came out here and won but I’m always hungry for more.’
Earlier, returning to the scene of her greatest achievement, Jessica Ennis-Hill demonstrated why she is the odds-on favourite to retain her gold medal in Rio by running her second-fastest time ever in the 100m hurdles.
Roared on by the crowd at what is now called the London Stadium, the home favourite clocked 12.76 seconds in her heat.
But she was upstaged in the final by American Kendra Harrison, who responded to the disappointment of not making the US Olympic team by breaking the 28-year-old world record of Yordanka Donkova with a time of 12.20 seconds.
Ennis-Hill said: ‘I am so happy to run a season’s best and it makes me confident with Rio next. It was just great to be back here in London — the cheer when my name was called was just incredible.’
Her fellow heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson achieved a lifetime outdoor best of 1.95m in the high jump.
Eilidh Doyle fluffed her lines in her final dress rehearsal before Brazil as she trailed in fourth in the 400 metres hurdles at the Diamond League meeting in London. The Scot, 29, was in sight of the perfect send-off for Rio when she took the lead on the home straight but stuttered out of the final barrier as world No 1 Dalilah Muhammad snatched victory.
‘I concentrated a bit too much maybe, and mucked it up,’ said Doyle. ‘I’ll watch that back hundreds of times, you learn more from mistakes like that. ’
Chris O’Hare insisted he’ll be fit for Rio despite coming dead last in the Emsley Carr Mile.