LAURA MUIR reflected on her achievement in breaking Kelly Holmes’ long-standing British 1500m record and admitted it already feels like a career-defining moment. One of the Sunday Herald’s Six to Follow, Muir was one of the stand-out performers of the first night of the Mueller Anniversary Games in London as she smashed Holmes’ record that had stood since the 2004 Olympics with a time of 3:57:49.
The 23 year-old from Kinross revealed she had barely slept on Friday night as the adrenaline coursed through her after running the second fastest time in the world this year. Her record-breaking effort will heighten the feeling that she can win an Olympic medal in Rio and Muir conceded she has superseded even her own expectations.
“I think that was a career-defining run,” she said. “Even though I’m only 23 and hopefully have a positive career ahead of me in athletics this will always be one of my biggest achievements I think. To break any British record is tough but the fact that it was Kelly Holmes’ one makes it even more special. I’m so chuffed to have my name on the books.
“I don’t know if I could run 3:57 but I felt a PB was in me. I wasn’t expecting to run that race as the pace through 800m was about four-minute pace. So I actually picked it up in the latter half of the race which I didn’t expect at all. When I crossed the line and saw the time I couldn’t believe it as I didn’t think that was possible. It was such a shock what I did, even to me. I wasn’t thinking of going out there and doing that.
“It’s great to hear other people or former athletes say that they think I can go even faster as they recognise my talent. I ran that race by myself. The conditions were perfect so I think if I had someone else on the home straight pushing me I could have gone even faster. There is definitely more to come from me.”
By yesterday afternoon, Muir was still trying to work her way through the hundreds of congratulatory texts and tweets she had received since her win. “The reception I’ve had has been amazing and I can’t be more thankful for the support. I’ve not really had a chance to see all the messages as my phone ran out of battery and I barely got to sleep [on Friday night] so I only had a quick scroll through. It was such a special night that I was still awake at 4am. But I’ve had so many messages from other athletes and the public and that’s been great.”
One of those rushing to congratulate Muir was the woman whose record she had just surpassed, Holmes tweeting that she was pleased that the young pretender had raised the bar once again.
“I saw the tweets and I got a private message from Kelly as well saying “well done” which was really nice,” revealed Muir. “Hopefully one day I can achieve what she’s achieved. I’ve never met her before as our paths have never crossed. But she’s always been an inspiration.”
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