Muir in for a wild one at the animal house ATHLETICS
LAURA Muir finally departed the stage yesterday to refresh and unwind. Not for the 23-year-old a fortnight in Ibiza or a stint backpacking down the Amazon, though.
“I’m starting a vet placement on Monday,” said Muir, who will spend what passes for an off-season in the hedonistic hotspot of Darlington.
“That’s what I was wanting to do. It will be a complete distraction the other way. It will be nice to have a complete break and then come back in September. I’ve done enough travelling this year, so even staying in one place for two weeks will be great.”
It will be a quick hop down the M1 from Newcastle, where she rounded off a campaign of extreme highs and one disappointment with victory in the mile at the Great CityGames.
She surged clear on the street circuit to win in 4:33.99, with fellow Scots Eilish McColgan and Steph Twell fifth and sixth.
Muir has watched her Olympic final since that night three weeks ago when her challenge faltered on the last lap and she faded to seventh. The best in her event of 2016, but without the ultimate prize. “As much as it hurt, I was quite relieved,” she said of the viewing. “I analysed it quite critically. I felt like I did everything I could right.”
Similarly, Lynsey Sharp concluded her own campaign with a win over the rarely-run 500m in 1:06.62, claiming the oddity of a world best, in a bolt down the purpose-built straight, ahead of UK trio Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, Anyika Onuora and Adelle Tracey after negotiating the transition off the road.
“I was nervous about the ramp,” said the Scot, who took only her second win of a summer that peaked with a personal best and sixth in the 800m final in Rio. “I thought I was going to go down but I managed to recover.
“I really wanted to win here and it was a good one to finish on. I think I’m going to do some altitude pre-Christmas and see how I react to that. If that goes well, I’ll maybe do it again in January.”
Two-time 800m gold medallist David Rudisha took the men’s 500m, James Dasaolu edged out British team-mate CJ Ujah in the 100m, while Jake Wightman was a surprise victor in the mile in 4:05.70, with Andy Butchart eighth.
Greg Rutherford took a brief hiatus from his stint on Strictly Come Dancing to leap 7.66m and win the long jump in what is likely to be his last outing until next summer.
Today, Mo Farah heads the field in the Great North Run, with the four-time Olympic champion saying he is open to returning to the UK to work at grassroots in a bid to push the sport forward once he hangs up his spikes.
“In football, we might have the best teams in the Premier League, so why can’t we have it in athletics?” said the 33-year-old, who will chase a hat-trick of wins. “If you look at it, it’s football, football, football. Why can’t we have it in athletics, where we have the best clubs?’”
Freya Ross and Susan Partridge head Scottish hopes in the women’s race.