Muir third in Rome 800m as training partner Reekie maintains dominance

Scot Jemma Reekie engaged in a little gladiatorial combat in Rome last night and duly put her rivals to the sword to conclude a remarkable 2020 campaign with victory at the Golden Gala meeting.

It was a second Diamond League triumph for the 22-year-old who saved her best for last with a sprint of pace and poise to win the 800 metres in 1:59.76 with training partner Laura Muir third.

A campaign that she began by claiming the UK indoor records over 800m, 1,500m and the mile within eight glorious days in February has established Ayrshire’s young ace as a leader of the pack.

And she was composed enough in the Italian capital to track Dundee Hawkhill Harrier Muir’s surge and then sweep past before holding off Norway’s Hedda Hynne in a concluding charge.

“My whole plan went out the window and I had to adapt and run to the best of my ability,” Reekie said.

“But I’m happy to finish the season on a win. It’s been so good. It was just amazing to be out racing. And, hopefully, I’ll be heading to Tokyo next year.”

It has been an impressive year for Muir as well, who heads the 1,500m world rankings and has been no slouch over 800m as well.

This interrupted summer has left the European champion even better prepared to pursue an Olympic medal in Tokyo next year. “I wasn’t in the best position at some points,” said the European champion, who clocked 2:00.49.

“Jemma and Hedda are both running very fast this year and have better personal bests than me.

“So to come third, as a 1,500m runner, is still satisfying. It was messy but it’s nice it still went OK.

“I’m really happy. At the start, we didn’t know what races were going to have so I’m really happy we were able to get out and compete.

“And I got a world lead over 1,500 with three sub-four minute runs. I can be happy with that.”

Also in Rome, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis set an outdoor pole vault world best by clearing 6.15 metres to complement the world record of 6.18m he established indoors in Glasgow in February.

There was a seventh victory in ten starts for Italy-based Andy Pozzi in the 110m hurdles in 13.15 secs while Karsten Warholm again fell just short in his quest to capture the world record in the 400m hurdles with the Norwegian winning his 19th consecutive race in a meeting record of 47.07 secs.

Among the other Brits, Rabah Yousif came fifth in the men’s 400m in 45.65 secs, Jessie Knight was sixth in the women’s 400m hurdles in 55.58 while Laviai Nielsen was seventh in the 400m in 52.45.