Silver lining for Laura as Eilidh grabs her first individual world medal
Scotland’s Laura Muir last night fired a warning to her rivals and insisted she has announced herself on the global stage after a gutsy 1500 metres silver at the World Indoor Championships.
The 24-year-old, who took 3000m bronze on Thursday, finished behind Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba who claimed a double after also wining the 3000m.
Muir was the second home star to win a medal during a frantic evening in Birmingham after Eilidh Doyle clinched 400m bronze – her first individual world medal.
Muir’s medals followed her double European gold in Belgrade a year ago and she believes she has arrived as a contender.
She said: “Yeah, I think so. At the European Indoors I made quite a big statement but that was on the European stage.
“The world stage is completely different, running against the Africans, but I have shown I can definitely mix it with them and come up with the goods.
“It’s such a good confidence boost. I know I’ve been there or thereabouts, it was about time I got on the podium. It was just a matter of when.”
Muir, who finished in four minutes 06.23 seconds, overtook Sifan Hassan on the final lap after the Holland runner finished ahead of her in the 3000m.
She was forced to get a £1500 taxi from Scotland to Birmingham on Wednesday after her flights were cancelled due to the snow.
Muir added: “Yeah, it does feel a long time ago. Walking to the vet school in the snow, driving down the M6, it’s crazy where I’ve come in three days.
“I can’t wait to get back to my friends and family and show them the medals.
“I’m on a flight tomorrow evening, whether that will happen I don’t know. It may well be a taxi again. Hopefully the flight should be all right.”
But there was heartbreak for Birmingham runner Elliot Giles, who was upgraded to bronze in the men’s 400m – only to lose it over an hour later.
Drew Windle was disqualified after coming second, promoting fourth placed Giles, but the American’s appeal was upheld and he was reinstated after a farcical wait.
Giles said: “It’s all been quite surreal this evening. I don’t really know what to say right now. I haven’t seen the race back so I can’t really judge it fairly. It’s really tough.
“We put so much effort into the sport and then our race is over in under two minutes. The decision that is made has to be the right one, so I accept it.”
CJ Ujah also had a bad day – he was disqualified from the 60m semi-final for a false start.
The 23- year- old, part of the 4x100m world championship winning squad, had been widely expected to challenge for the podium.