LAURA MUIR narrowly missed out on the 1000m world record Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Glasgow yesterday but the 26-year-old declared herself pleased with her efforts nevertheless.
Muir was aiming to better Maria Mutola’s mark of 2 minutes 30.94 seconds that the Mozambique athlete set in 1999 but a heavily disrupted winter of training, plus having to run the final two laps entirely on her own, proved just too much for the Scot to overcome.
The pacemaker took Muir to 600m but as the race approached the latter stages, she was always half a step behind world record pace.
By the time the pacemaker dropped out, Muir was well clear of the field and so was always up against it to maintain the speed she needed over the final 400m.
And indeed, Mutola’s mark proved too much for Muir, with the 1500m specialist crossing the line in 2 minutes 33.47 seconds.
However, bearing in mind that she had an injury hit winter, which saw her unable to run for a number of weeks due to an achilles issue, she was content with what she described as a “solid” performance.
“I gave it a good shot and for where I am in my training, it’s really solid and I can build on that throughout the year,” she said.
“Considering the amount of training I’ve missed over the winter, it’s a good place to be and I can build on it and get stronger and faster. I’d have loved to have run faster and have got the record but putting it into context, this is a good place to be.”
An interesting story is developing between Muir and her younger training partner, Jemma Reekie, who won the 1500m yesterday and has broken Muir’s British indoor mile and 1500m records in the past week.
Reekie has always been seen as Muir’s sidekick but her improved performances means she is now almost on a par with the four-time European indoor champion, something Muir is well aware of.
“I think we’re very close (to being on a par),” she said.
“She’s got the speed and I’ve got the endurance. I’d probably give her the 800m and I’d give myself the 3000m or the 5000m and in the 1500m, I think we’re very close. So it’s really exciting and at the same time, it’s great for training because we’re pushing each other.
“It’s definitely different (having someone in Scotland so competitive). But it is fantastic.
“For her to be coming up and performing so well is very exciting. We’re so close - she is like a little sister to me, so to see her doing really well doesn’t put a downer on me whatsoever. It’s great to see and it makes me push even harder and be a better athlete too.
And while Muir is happy to see Reekie’s improvement, she is also keen to make sure she remains top dog.
“Of course (I want to beat her). There is always going to be that,” she said.
“You want to win races. As much we are very close, I want to come out on top. But it’s a great rivalry, we are really friendly on and off the track.”
Muir may have missed out but there was one world record in Glasgow yesterday. The man of the moment, Mondo Duplantis, who set a new world pole vault record last weekend, broke his own world record with a clearance of 6.18m, bettering his previous mark by a single centimetre.
The Swede picked up $30,000 for his efforts and while he admitted he is not aiming for a world record every time he competes, he is ready to take the chance whenever it comes around.
“It’s unfair to think I’ll break the world record every time - I don’t think about it so much because you don’t usually have to break a world record to win,” he said.
“Every competition I go into I want to win and that’s the main goal at every competition.
“I want to jump high, I want to break the world record but first you’ve got to win. So I’ll try to win and if I’m feeling good and have a bit of energy left, I’ll try to crank it up. I can’t promise anything but I’ll give it 100 per cent for sure.”
Elsewhere for the Scots, Nikki Manson was seventh in the high jump with a leap of 1.82m while Heather Paton was sixth in her heat in the 60m hurdles just shy of her Scottish record.
In the 800m, Guy Learmonth put in a strong run to finish third in 1 minute 47.16 seconds behind winner Adam Kszczot of Poland but ahead of his compatriot, Josh Kerr, who was fourth with a PB.
And Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce took victory in the women’s 60m in her only indoor appearance of the season while in the long-jump, world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thomson was fourth.
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