A Scot's Spark Lights Up the Show

Laura Muir’s magic, Ivana Spanovic’s biggie and a long jump thriller were THE HIGH POINTS of the European Indoor Championships.

- Stan Rayan

As a little girl, she used to run all alone on the rugby pitches of Scotland’s Kinross High School, illuminated by the headlights of her mother’s car during the dark and gloomy winter. Laura Muir has come a long way from those chilly days.

THE OTHER DAY, the Scot completed a rare 1500m-3000m double in the space of 24 hours, at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade. The 23-year-old athlete now owns five British and two European records, in distances ranging from 1000m to 5000m, and is hailed as the next superstar of British athletics.

But only a few months ago, in Rio, Muir was heartbroken and frustrated. A month before the 2016 Olympics, she had broken former Olympic champion Kelly Holmes’ 12-year-old 1500m British record, at the Anniversary Games in London, and was tipped to win a medal in Rio. However, during the 1500m event a sudden mid-race push, in an effort to keep pace with the eventual gold and silver medal winners, Faith Kipyegon and Genzebe Dibaba, proved to be Muir’s undoing and she finished a disappointing seventh.

BUT NOW, GLOWING WITH two indoor European gold medals, Muir — the world's’s fastest runner in the 1500m last year— is a favourite to win the 1500m and 5000m races at the World Championships in London in August.