Muir rivalry pushing Reekie to even greater heights, claims Coe

Jemma Reekie’s friendly rivalry with Dundee Hawkhill Harrier Laura Muir is primed to cement her place as one of track and field’s top talents in 2021, two- time Olympic gold medallist Seb Coe has forecast.

The huge benefits of learning from the Milnathort athlete have been immense, he says, with both flourishing under the auspices of their coach Andy Young.

Just 22, Reekie went from exiting the 2019 world championships in the first round to two Diamond League victories and a place alongside Muir at the head of the global rankings last summer.

That’s a trajectory that should make everyone sit up and take notice, admits Coe, who has kept close tabs on the Scottish duo in his unofficial role as mentor to the UK’ s emerging middle-distance pack.

“Jemma’s a precocious talent,” Coe said.

“Like all young talent. I’m sure she has the right structures around the right coaching.

“Recognising that anything that is good in athletics is incremental and sequential, it does appear to me that she has a lot of natural talent.

“She works within the same group as Laura which can’t be a bad thing. And they seem both to manage in the competitive nature of how they confront each other on the track and the collaborative work that they both obviously do together in training. I think they seem to be handling it pretty well.

“She seems to be handling it extraordinarily well.

“I’ve talked about this before but I think there is a real genesis of excitement and optimism in Scottish athletics at the moment, which is great to see.”

Eight months out from the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, there will be increased pressure on Reekie and Muir to maintain their ascent and capture the outdoor global medals which would cement their legacies.

Young will guide the pair from close hand with both scheduled to return to South Africa for the second part of a winter training camp in the New Year.

But even a prolonged lockdown which kept him at a distance never looked like throwing the pair off their stride.

“Often I got the question from people saying: ‘oh, it must be really tough because they are working remotely,’” Coe said.

“Actually all athletes have worked remotely.

“They are more familiar with the technology that allows their coaches to watch eight-time zones away when they’re competing and within moments of a competition.

“They’re assessing the quality of the performance and then even adjusting the training session the following day. So in a way that’ s what they have always done.”