The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Laura wants Anniversary date with Budd’s record
Having shattered her personal best time for 800m at Thursday’s Lausanne Diamond League, Laura Muir now has Zola Budd’s UK one-mile record as a target when she competes at tomorrow’s Müller Anniversary Games (Diamond League) at the London Olympic Stadium.
After a spell on the sidelines with a minor foot injury, Muir was in action in Lausanne for the first time since the end of May, and proved she is back to top form with her personal 800m best of 1 minute 58.69 seconds.
The Milnathort athlete commented: “I am emotional. I’m just delighted to be back on track. You do not realise the value of something until it is taken away from you.
“The last two months have been difficult; I am gradually getting back. I need to think of how I progress from now until the London World Championships and after that. For the moment all I can say is Muir is back.”
Muir’s coach, Andy Young, was also in celebratory mood stating:” Laura is now the first British woman to run: sub-2 for 800m, sub-4 for 1,500m, sub-8:30 for 3,000m and sub-15 for 5,000m. Not to mention she is now top of the 2017 UK rankings for 800m, 1,500m, 3,000m and 5,000m. This was a remarkable 800m run by Laura, it even puts her second in Europe for 800m this year.”
At last year’s Müller Games the Dundee Hawkhill Harrier broke Kelly Holmes’ British 1,500m record before later improving it by another two seconds with 3:55.22 in Paris. This time out the target will be Zola Budd’s 1985 British mile record of 4 mins 17.57 secs.
“It was an amazing atmosphere when I ran there last year and the crowd support was brilliant,” said Muir. “I’m looking to go out there and run a good race, but the British record is also on my mind a little bit. If I can break a British record that would be great.”
Muir plans to double up at the World Championships in August, where she will be eyeing success in the 1,500m and 5,000m.
Edinburgh’s Lynsey Sharp also had a good race in Lausanne clocking a season’s best 1.58.80 and will line up over 800m tomorrow facing Lausanne runner-up Charlene Lipsey who went to number six on the US all-time rankings with 1:57.38.
Kinross athlete Eilidh Doyle will follow up her best run of the season, a 54.36 in Lausanne for third place. Doyle will face 2017 world leader Dalilah Muhammad (USA), the Rio Olympic champion who will be out to atone for her non-finish in Lausanne. Olympic silver medallist Sarah Petersen (Denmark) is also in the field.
Double Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah will bring the curtain down in the final event of the day. In his farewell track season, the four-time Olympic gold medallist will contest the 3,000m planning to focus on road running following the London World Championships next month.
Scottish record holder Andrew Butchart (Central AC) will also be looking for a solid performance before the World Championships while a fly in the ointment could be American athlete Ryan Hill, fastest in the field boasting a personal best of 7:30.93.
Jake Wightman (Edinburgh AC), third at last weekend’s UK Trials 1,500m, drops down to 800m lining up against UK runner-up Guy Learmonth (Lasswade). Newly crowned UK 1,500m champion Chris O’Hare (Edinburgh AC) faces formidable Kenyans Bethwell Birgen and Andrew Rotich over the metric mile.
In a programme packed with Olympic and World champions double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson (Jamaica) lines up against world 200m champion Dafne Schippers (Netherlands), Britain’s fastest women Dina Asher-Smith and fellow Brit, the European 60m champion Asha Philip.
The pole vault gold, silver and bronze medallists from Rio, Ekaterini Stefanidi, Sandi Morris and Eliza McCartney, as well as world champion Yarisley Silva and Britain’s Holly Bradshaw, will be some of the top field event attractions.