MEDAL HOPE

Muir staying positive despite fifth-place finish in 1,500m

Laura Muir claimed a cloud hung over a remarkable 1,500 metres final in Doha after her gutsy run earned her fifth place at the World Championships.

The Milnathort athlete ran three minutes 55.76 seconds – her second best ever time – despite seeing her build-up ruined by injury and illness.

Alberto Salazar-trained Sifan Hassan added to her 10,000m title, claiming an easy victory in a championship record 3mins 51.95secs, as the 26-year-old from Holland shrugged off her coach’s fouryear ban for doping violations.

Muir suffered a torn calf at the Anniversary Games in London in July and was second with around 200m to go before fading.

But she felt Saturday’s race in Doha was under a shadow after Salazar’s ban.

She said: “Given the news in the past couple of days I think there is a cloud and there’s no avoiding that. All you can do is focus on your performances and for me to do that sort of race I’m really happy.

“We’re all in it for the medals, to run well and to run in championships and just to enjoy the sport.

“At championships you have to stay focused and not let these things distract you, that’s what I did and went into the final really focused.”

Muir, who came fourth at the World Championships in London two years ago, was unable to run for six weeks because of her calf injury.

She had also battled a knee injury and a stomach bug over the last two weeks.

Muir said: “Hopefully I’ll be fighting fit going into the Olympics. That was me unfit, if I’m 100% I’d love to see what I can do. It’s been a really bumpy journey. The rehab didn’t go as smoothly as we wanted to.

“We had a couple of setbacks. I was tweaking a couple of things. You lose that conditioning when you come back,” she added.

● Scot Callum Hawkins claimed a second successive fourth place in the marathon, finishing in two hours, 10 minutes and 57 seconds. Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa took gold in two hours, 10 minutes and 40 seconds.

Laura Muir after finishing fifth.