Muir sticks with spikes in Glasgow
LAURA MUIR will stick with her controversial Nike running spikes when she commences her bid to make history at the European Indoor Championships today, despite scrutiny over whether they conform to IAAF rules.
Sportsmail revealed 10 days ago that one of Nike’s major rivals were primed to take legal advice about the shoes in which Muir broke the British indoor mile record last month.
The issue at stake is whether the shoes used in Birmingham, which are understood to have been a prototype, fall foul of IAAF regulations that state they ‘must not be constructed so as to give athletes any unfairfi assistanceit or advantage’, and that they must be ‘reasonably available to all in the spirit of the universality of athletics’.
But despite any uncertainty going into her home championships in Glasgow, where Muir will attempt to defend her titles in the 1500m and 3,000m, starting with the 3,000m final tonight, Muir will keep the same spikes.
Asked if she will be wearing them, the 25- year- old’s coach Andy Young said: ‘Yes. She was given them last July and somebody had raced in them by then.
‘ There have not been any complaints. She was walking around with them in her hands in Birmingham so they are not particularly exciting or hidden.
‘They are a more supportive spike. We brought them in for training rather than racing but she liked them. She could have run in near enough high heels and it wouldn’t make any difference.’
Muir, who also won the 1500m and 3,000m in Belgrade in 2017, is bidding to become the first athlete of any nationality to win the double-double. She is the poster girl in Glasgow — the city where she capitulated amid the pressure of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, finishing 11th in the 1500m and consequently skipping the 800m.
She returns as the European and Diamond League champion for 1500m and her clash tonight over 3,000m against Konstanze Klosterhalfen, who holds the 2019 world lead, is expected to be the race of the championships.
Muir said: ‘Five years ago I struggled with pressure quite a lot. I just got really, really nervous and found that I didn’t race very well.
‘Now I think to myself, “Why did you train so hard? It’s to race. So why would you want to come to the race and not enjoy it?” Coming into Glasgow I feel more relaxed and more excited than anything.’
Muir starts as favourite for gold when the action begins day, while Katarina Johnson-Thompson will compete in the pentathlon.
The 26-year- old, whose prime rival Nafi Thiam is absent with a calf injury, said: ‘I’m sad she’s not there, she brings out the best in me. Last year, with the world indoors and the Commonwealth Games (where she won heptathlon gold) was very important. I’ve always wanted to win medals. So it was a huge turning point for me.’