Muir at the double at Euro indoors
BELGRADE: British runner Laura Muir confirmed her outstanding form this season by clinching 3,000m gold on Sunday for a middle-distance double at the European indoor championships in Belgrade.
Muir, who has already set three European records this year, dominated the race, clocking a championship record of 8min 35.68sec.
“I didn’t know what my legs would do so I just wanted to hang in there,” Muir told BBC Sport.
“I just wanted to do the best I could -- I just love running and I dedicate myself to it easily.”
Kenyan-born Yasemin Can of Turkey, who won the 5,000/10,000m double at the European outdoor champs in Amsterdam last year, won silver, with another Briton, Eilish McColgan, claiming bronze.
Muir, a veterinary student, broke a 32-year-old championship record when winning the 1,500m on Saturday and her victory over the longer distance meant the 23-year-old Scot sealed just the second double in the disciplines after Poland’s Lidia Chojecka in 2007 in Birmingham.
Britain won their fifth gold of the championships when Asha Philip streaked to victory in the 60m in a British record of 7.02sec, ahead of Ukraine’s Olesya Povh and Poland’s Ewa Swoboda.
“I was not doubting myself,” Philip told the BBC. “I knew I had it in me and the confidence took me through the race.
“When I crossed the line, I could feel the girls on my left and I wasn’t sure - the camera came to me and I was like: ‘I don’t believe it unless you say my name’.”
Poland also got their fifth gold through high jumper Sylwester Bednarek, whose 2.32m bested Briton Robbie Grabarz, Belarus’ Pavel Seliverstau taking bronze. - AFP