The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Muir is on track after final exam
Laura Muir is looking forward to focusing on her athletics career, having completed a Glasgow University veterinary degree.
Mixing studies with training for elite competition has left the 25-year-old Milnathort athlete drained at times.
Now the European indoor 1,500m and 3,000m champion believes she can take the next step and claim a world title.
The Dundee Hawkhill Harrier – announced as an ambassador for next year’s European indoor championships in Glasgow – said: “It’s been a seven-year process so I’m just really excited to have finished my exams and have that weight off my shoulders.
“Now I can focus this summer on the athletics.
“I’d still look to do something to do with veterinary. Athletics takes up a lot of time but I think it would be nice to keep my hand in, in some way, over the next few years, having studied for so long. I’ll need to look at my options and see what I can fit in.
“But my main focus over these next few years will be the athletics. I can only run for so long and I can always come back to the veterinary.
“It has been really tough juggling athletics with my studies. I’ve been so busy that my recovery has been compromised quite a lot of the time,” she said.
“But I always think I’m so lucky to have been able to do both. A lot of people would like to be a full-time athlete or a vet.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing what I can do with a bit more time to devote to athletics.”
Muir decided against travelling to the Gold Coast for this year’s Commonwealth Games as she put her focus on revising for her finals.
But she was in Birmingham for the World Indoor Championships where she won a silver and bronze.
“I think it will be easier now in terms of my preparations for competitions and training camps,” she said after sitting her final exam on Monday.
“My recovery should also improve too, hopefully, as I won’t be on my feet all day working at the veterinary hospital.
“Mentally too I should also be fresher,” she said.
“The past year has been really tough with it being my final year. I was doing a full-time placement and that meant a lot of weekends, late shifts and being on call,” she said.
“But you know, when something’s important to you, you just plug away at it and thankfully I managed to come away from it while competing pretty well, winning two medals at the World Indoors in Birmingham back in March.
“I think I’m pretty close (to world-title level). The ability is definitely there, it’s just a matter of it coming together on the day and having a bit of luck. Any day now hopefully I can be at the top of that rostrum at a world-class level.”