Laura upbeat over chances of track glory

LAURA Muir is confident she will challenge for the podium at Tokyo 2020 after learning from her Rio near-miss.

The 26-year-old is one of Team GB’s biggest hopes on the track at next year’s Olympics.

She appeared in contention in the 1500 metres in Rio three years ago, having been third with 200m to go, but finished seventh after being unable to match the pace when Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon made her move to take gold ahead of Genzebe Dibaba.

Since Rio, however, she has been crowned European 1500m champion, won four European Indoors titles and 3000m bronze and 1500m silver at the World Indoors.

Muir boldly said she was in the shape of her life ahead of last weekend’s Anniversary Games, having been able to focus on being a full-time athlete after graduating as a vet from the University of Glasgow last year.

And Muir is upbeat about her chances of success in Tokyo.

She said: “I know I’m stronger, faster and better at the tactics now than I was at the last Olympics. So going into Tokyo I’ll be in the best position I can be to improve on that (seventh) and hopefully get on the podium.

“It was one of the easiest races to reflect on and get over. I knew if there was a move made I was going to cover it and if I wanted the gold I had to cover it. Yes, I maybe lost a medal but I would never have won gold had I not gone with it.

“It’s what I went for and it didn’t pay off but I’m proud I went for it.

“You can’t control what happens in the race and in Rio I made a decision to cover a move and I stand by it. The 1500m is so unpredictable, you don’t know if it’s going to be run in this time or that time. It’s one you learn from. We didn’t expect to be an Olympic medal contender in Rio, so the focus has always been Tokyo, so hopefully next year...”