Magical Muir wins first gold
LAURA MUIR has endured many disappointments on the winding route to her first senior international medal. So when she won gold over 1500m at the European Indoor Championships yesterday, an overzealous steward was not about to stop her completing a lap of honour.
Urged on by her coach Andy Young, the wily Scot sidestepped the keen official and jogged to accept the plaudits of the British section of the crowd inside the Kombank Arena.
‘I had to fight for that didn’t I?’ she said. ‘They told me, “We don’t have time”. I couldn’t really believe what she was saying. I thought, “It’s my first medal. I’m not going to lose out on my lap of honour. I guessed, at the end of the day, she won’t be able to catch me.’
Few can. The 23-year-old ran the first lap at the back but soon assumed her favoured front-running position and nobody came close as she crossed the line, arms aloft, in a Championship record 4:02.39. Konstanze Klosterhalfen of Germany was more than two seconds behind, with Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui taking bronze.
There will undoubtedly be many more gold medals to come for Muir, possibly as early as today, when she lines up for the 3,000m final as favourite. Not since Poland’s Lidia Chojecka in 2007 has any woman achieved the audacious 1500m and 3,000m double. It proved a ceiling for Chojecka, who never won another international title after that, but this will almost certainly be a springboard to greater glory for Muir.
‘I think I’ve broken the ice here and it’s given me a lot of confidence about standing on the podium,’ she said. ‘Let alone the top step.’
The biggest barrier to the 3,000m title is likely to be Turkey’s Yasemin Can. ‘It will be tougher,’ said Muir. ‘Can will probably take it out. It’s in her interests to do that. So I’m going to have to try and hang on. Hopefully I can come away with another gold but if not, it’s been a pretty hard weekend. I won’t beat myself up too much about it.’
With the retirement of Jessica Ennis-Hill last year, Sir Mo Farah bowing out from the track this summer and Greg Rutherford in the twilight of his career, British athletics direly needs new stars. At 5ft 3in and with ‘peely-wally Scottish skin’ — her own words — Muir was once underestimated by her rivals but she has repeatedly taught them the error of their ways.
Last year she ran the fastest 1500m of the year, a welcome tonic just days after the disappointment of finishing seventh at the Rio Olympics. It has spurred her to an astonishing indoor season in which she has shattered long-standing European records owned by the likes of Dame Kelly Holmes and Liz McColgan.
The Northern Irish athlete Ciara Mageean, who competes alongside Muir in the 1500m said the Scot had given her hope that athletes from Europe can challenge the East Africans, who have dominated women’s distance running for the last decade.
‘We can compete against the Ethiopians,’ said Mageean. ‘Laura’s proving that. Africans have dominated for so long. It’s nice to see an athlete very similar to yourself up there competing. It definitely gives me hope.’
The European Indoor Championships holds happy memories for Richard Kilty. Not only did he win 60m gold two years ago, he also met his now-wife Dovile Dzindzaletaite at this competition. She and their five-month-old son, also called Richard were watching as he stormed to victory in 6.54sec, the fastest time in Europe this year.
Slovakia’s Jan Volko was second and Sweden’s Austin Hamilton third. Britain’s Theo Etienne finished fifth while Andrew Robertson was disqualified for a false start.