Reekie runs herself into contention for Olympics

JEMMA REEKIE’S coach Andy Young believes the breakthrough star of British athletics packs enough of a kick to be a potential Olympic contender this summer. While reluctant to apply unhelpful pressure to the 21-year-old, Young is more aware than anyone of the devastating potential within an athlete who, until this month, was best known for being Laura Muir’s training partner. Her 1500metres win at the Indoor Grand Prix in Glasgow on Saturday was a case in point. Having collected three national records in February, Reekie (below) appeared to be heading for defeat when outside the top three and boxed in at the bell. However, she produced an astonishing final-lap burst of speed to pass world indoor silver medallist Dawit Seyaum on the home straight. Her finish in 4mins 4.07secs was almost four seconds down on her best but the kick of speed will been noticed by middledistance Olympic contenders the world over. Young said: ‘The kick is pretty special. Not many people have that. I’ve not seen anyone string out that kind of field. ‘You’re at probably the biggest Grand Prix in the world — and on your home track — to deliver that at the end of a tough two weeks, with a 30-second last lap, you don’t get much better than that.’ Young faced criticism last week for blocking questions on Reekie’s Nike spikes and the risk is that her talent will be downplayed in what is a reasonable debate. While there can be no denying that the shoes will have contributed to her times, it is increasingly clear from the manner of her races that Reekie is topping quality podiums on merit. With greater tactical acumen — Saturday’s race being an example — she will improve further still. Asked if she could become an Olympic contender, having clocked 1:57.91 for the 800m and 4:00.52 for the 1500m in the past fortnight, Young said: ‘Yeah, yeah, if she can deliver performances like that. You’ve still got to remember she’s 21, this will be her first Olympics. But if you can deliver that kind of performance and you can navigate heats and semis, get to the final and deliver a performance like that, that is an exciting opportunity.’ Reekie downplayed the impact of her running shoes, insisting hard work was the key element in her rise to prominence. ‘It doesn’t happen overnight and there’s a lot of hard work,’ she said. ‘I am 21 years old, I am a developing athlete and I am pushing myself to the absolute limit so I will just let my legs do the talking.’ Muir, meanwhile, was more than satisfied with her form after a disrupted winter despite falling short in her world-record bid at the Muller Indoor Grand Prix. Muir stated on Friday she was ‘pretty confident’ of breaking the 1000m record of 2:30.94 but she and her pacemaker slipped off target less than halfway round and she came home in 2:33.45. But the 26-year-old feels there is more to come from her after overcoming injury problems. Muir returned from a torn calf to finish fifth in a very fast 1500m final at the World Championships in October but complications from the injury affected her pre-season. ‘It was a solid run,’ she said after finishing four seconds ahead of the field. ‘Considering the amount of training I have missed through the winter, it’s a good place to be and I can build on that and get faster throughout the year. ‘I have never had such a disrupted winter after tearing my calf.’ Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis caused the biggest stir when he broke the pole vault world record for the second time in a week to set a new mark of 6.18m. Jessie Knight shocked a strong field to claim victory in the 400m, while there was another British success in the 60m hurdles as Andrew Pozzi secured his fifth win out of five races this year.