It says how much Jemma Reekie has evolved in a week that she ran a mile time which previously only two athletes have ever bettered indoors on a standard track, set two more British records and yet some were slightly disappointed that she could only finish third in what must be regarded as the greatest indoor women’s mile race in history.
Seven days earlier she had broken the British indoor 800m record in Glasgow with a stunning 1:57.91 and this week the young Scot improved the national indoor 1500m and mile marks.
In that Glasgow race she had beaten her training partner and friend Laura Muir and broken Jenny Meadows’ UK mark but this time she improved Muir’s record times of 4:01.84 for 1500m and 4:18.75 for the mile.
Clocking 4:17.88, double European under-23 champion Reekie finished third in the Wanamaker women’s mile won by Elle Purrier in a North American record of 4:16.85 as Konstanze Klosterhalfen was second in a German record of 4:17.26.
Those times move Purrier and Klosterhalfen to second and fourth respectively on the world indoor mile all-time list, while Reekie’s time puts her fifth on the global all-time rankings.
The field can largely thank the German world 5000m bronze medallist for the times, though Reekie was briefly ahead in a 31.64 opening 200m before conceding to her predecessor as European under-23 1500m champion, who led through 440 yards in 63.86 with Reekie (64.16) and Purrier (64.42) enjoying the ride.
The gap remained the same through halfway, which Klosterhalfen reached in 2:08.96 ahead of Reekie (2:09.31) and Purrier (2:09.57), while the 1000m mark saw the German ahead in 2:40.43 from the Brit’s 2:40.90 and the order unchanged at three quarters of a mile with times of 3:13.94, 3:14.39 and 3:14.69.
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