Hardest of tests facing Muir in stellar 1,500m

Athletics: Eugene Diamond League has the strongest field ever assembled in the US for women’s 1,500m

Milnathort athlete Laura Muir opens her outdoor season over 1,500m tomorrow in what could see the most sub-four-minute times ever recorded at a Diamond League meeting.

The Eugene Diamond League has the strongest field ever assembled in the US.

The Dundee Hawkhill Harrier’s personal best of 3:55.22 is the fastest in the field and ahead of home favourite Shannon Rowbury’s (USA) 3:56.29.

Nearly half of the entrants in the 15-woman field have lifetime bests under four minutes.

From her Flagstaff training base, European indoor 3,000m champion Muir said: “I have been improving so much year upon year, becoming more and more experienced, and I think that is showing.

“My coach Andy Young and I are trying different things to adapt to different situations and I’m so much more confident in terms of my tactics.

“So everything is just building up and Eugene is a stepping stone.

“I think, come the London World Championships, I’ll be ready to go.”

Dunblane’s Andrew Butchart takes on four-times Olympic champion Mo Farah in a fine 5,000m field.

Butchart had the race of his life in Rio last summer, shaving more than four seconds from his 5,000m personal best with a Scottish record 13 minutes 08.61 seconds, a time which moved him from 10th to third on the UK all-time list behind only Mo Farah and David Moorcroft.

The Scot has been training at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona, alongside Farah, and his sights are firmly set on overtaking the star at August’s London World Championships. “Nobody is invincible. “It’s easier for me because I am the underdog,” Butchart said.

“It’s going to be hard. Obviously it’s Mo’s last ever World Championships, so the spotlight is going to be on him. But I could potentially get a medal in London, who knows?”

The 5,000m field also includes Olympic silver medallist Paul Chelimo, world cross-country and half marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor and Olympic steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto.

Dundee Hawkhill’s Eilish McColgan contests the women’s 5,000m as she hopes to improve on her 15:05.22 PB.

World indoor 5,000m record-holder Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia) will start as favourite as she boasts a best of 14:15.41.

Scot Lynsey Sharp takes on South Africa’s two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya over the twolap race.