No record but Laura is upbeat

DUNDEE Hawkhill Harrier Laura Muir dismissed any disappointment after she missed out on breaking Zola Budd’s 32-year-old mile record.

The 24-year-old from Milnathort was second in the mile race at the Anniversary Games yesterday and fell just short of Budd’s British record.

She finished behind Kenya’s Hellen Obiri in four minutes 18.03 seconds, a personal best, in London.

Budd’s record, which she set in Switzerland, stands at four minutes 17.57 seconds but Muir was content with her race, especially after recovering from a stress fracture in her foot.

She said: “I’m very disappointed not to get the record but I’m happy with the time. It’s still a PB for me. I just took it on and the legs were a bit tired in the last 100 metres but, considering the races I’ve put together in the last few days, I’m pretty happy.

“It’s hard, you have to physically push yourself as much as you can. I wanted to be at the front and set the pace. I may have paid for it in the last 100 metres but I did the best I could.

“I don’t know if I see expectation to win as pressure. I see it as support.

“A few years ago I would have struggled with it but I’m recognising I see it as support and people are looking towards me because I’m doing well and hoping I do well at the World Championships.”

Muir had two weeks off last month as she recovered from a stress fracture in her foot but insisted the injury was behind her.

“It’s always going to be a little bit in the back of your mind but certainly training has been going really well. I have to be positive,” she added.

SIR Mo Farah won the 3,000 metres in one of his last races at the London Stadium, where he won his first two Olympic gold medals in 2012.

Farah will retire from the track to focus on road racing after next month’s World Championships in London.

He said: “I’ve been in this situation with the experience of 2012.

“I’m getting more nervous in terms of ‘this is it’ but other than that it’s normal. This is home, this is where my life changed.”