The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Muir can fill void left by Murray and Hoy
Dundee Hawkhill runner confident in bid to clinch historic double-double
Milnathort athlete Laura Muir will step on to the Emirates Arena track in Glasgow today with her sights set firmly on a historic double-double at the European Indoor Championships.
The reigning 1,500 and 3,000m champion will race twice inside three hours in a schedule that will see her take on the 1,500m heats just two-and-a-half hours before the 3,000m final.
The Dundee Hawkhill athlete said: “We would only do it if I was strong enough and fit enough to do it and we feel I am.
“I don’t want to go out there and do a mediocre performance. I want to go out there and smash it. It is Glasgow, of all places.
“If it was somewhere else, I don’t know if we would have done the double but it is such a big opportunity for me.
“If it had been a few years ago I would have found it tougher than I would do now. But I am really confident where I am at now and in my ability.
“I had a lot of pressure for the Berlin Europeans last year for the outdoors but I dealt with that fine and came away with the win. So, coming into Glasgow I feel more relaxed and more excited than anything.”
Victory tonight and again in Sunday’s 1,500m climax could elevate Muir among very elite company.
Only four women have ever claimed more than four Euro Indoor golds, with the 26-year-old aiming to draw level with a clutch of past champions including Czech great Jarmila Kratochvilova and East Germany’s Marita Koch.
Meanwhile, Jemma Reekie says nerves will not be an issue as she prepares to line up alongside Europe’s elite.
The 20-year-old is Muir’s training partner – and her targets may be more modest as the Beith athlete will not let stage fright put her off her step as she runs out in front of a sell-out crowd.
She said: “I’d love to line up alongside Laura in the final. I can take a lot of confidence from the fact I go up against her every day in training.
“I don’t really get that fazed, no matter who I’m up against because I face the best in the world every day on the practice track.
“That will take some of the nerves out of this weekend. Just growing up in Laura’s environment where I’m always around high-class athletes means I don’t really get bothered by big names now.
“I appreciate how good they are but I’m up against this level of athlete every day, so I just get on with it.”
The Emirates track in the city’s east end is where Reekie and Muir are put through their paces by coach Andy Young.
Reekie may not quite be up to the task of matching her team-mate – whose 2018 highlights include winning the European 1,500m outdoor gold in Berlin as well as claiming a silver and bronze at the world indoors in Birmingham – but she is refusing to put a ceiling on her eventual ambitions.
“Laura is so fierce and very brave when she’s racing,” she said.
“It really shows in training and we’re always competitive with each other.
“I’ve not got the best of her yet – I think I’ve got a while to go yet. But I’m working my way closer and closer to her.
“I try keeping up with her in training but then end up dying so bad.
“I’ll just keep trying until I can keep up. I’m 20 years old. I don’t want to peak at this age. I want to have a long career. Andy knows that and he is great at making sure I’m not running too much.
“From training with Laura I know she’s gone through the same things I
have and it’s not impossible for me to achieve some of the things she has.
“No one is unbeatable. I don’t want to put any limits on myself. I don’t just want to say ‘I want to be as good as Laura’.
“It’s about having no limits and seeing how fast I can go.”
Joining Muir in the 3,000m will be Hawkhill colleague Eilish McColgan, herself no stranger to European honours having claimed the bronze 3,000m behind Muir at the European indoors in Belgrade 2017 before taking the 5,000m European silver medal in Berlin last year.
McColgan, who missed the trials for Glasgow through illness, bounced back a week later to secure her place with a fine 3,000m performance at the Muller Grand Prix in Birmingham.
The 2018 World Indoor 400m bronze medallist Eilidh Doyle is also in action tonight contesting the 400m heats and hopefully, later in tonight’s programme, the semi-finals.
Like McColgan, Doyle did not qualify for Glasgow automatically but says: “I’m happy to be in the team but you still walk out there and think ‘wow’ there are others like Laura and Eilish and Chris O’Hare who can step up. They have won medals at this level so we can all share the burden of expectation,”
Inverness athlete Zoey Doyle will also contest tonight’s 400m having taken the UK title earlier this month.