It is Friday night, late-spring, but it feels more like winter. Clad in an Arctic explorer-grade jacket, Laura Muir is dishing out medals at the kind of athletics meeting in Glasgow that was once her proving ground, eager young hopefuls – with a few old hands – testing themselves over 10,000 metres with the city’s golden girl-in-residence adding a touch of lustre with her presence.
Afterwards, her Twitter timeline is stacked with the excited reflections of those who catch a breathless word. Autographs, selfie requests, now as much a part of the 23-year-old’s daily schedule as training runs or a spot of veterinary learning. “It's been strange,” she reflects. “Before, I was only recognised at athletics meets but I’m noticing it more in day-to-day life. But people are really nice about it, saying good luck or well done. In Scotland, we’ve had great support for our home athletes which has been great.”
Her nascent fame has exponentially increased since she plundered double gold at March’s European Indoor Championships in Belgrade, subtly upgrading herself from wannabe to winner, her accomplishments no longer measured in outstanding times but in tangible triumphs.
More of the same, the Scot trusts, can be achieved in August’s IAAF world championships in London. Which is why she forsook the early-summer chill yesterday for the cactus-filled warmth of Arizona. One month in the USA will see Muir endure another spell of training at altitude combined with an appearance at the Diamond League meeting in Oregon, the official start of an outdoor season where she will demand further significant strides from herself.
Any lingering self-doubt on the grand stages has evaporated. Likewise questions of her tactical nous that returned in the wake of slipping dramatically out of the medals on a tortuous last lap of the Olympic 1500 metres final. “After the disappointment of Rio last year, we knew the indoor season was very important in building my confidence towards London later on,” she confirms. “It went really well at the Europeans and it certainly gave me a lot of confidence for the summer season. Hopefully I can do well on the global stage now that I’ve conquered the European stage.”
That is not her only conquest. Ask any athletic Olympian from 2012 about their recollections of London five years ago and they will inevitably mention the noise within the main stadium in Stratford. For some, it was an agreeable spur, for others a burdensome din. The worlds, back at the same venue, will generate more of the same.
“If you’d asked me that a couple of years ago, I probably would have been quite worried about it,” Muir confesses. “There was pressure and I didn’t deal with it very well. I got very nervous. Now I just take it and I see pressure more as support. The reason it’s there is because people are expecting me to do well.”
The microscopic details are not being left to chance. Wiser, savvier for her apprenticeship on the circuit, Muir will get a dry run around the track on July 9 at the Muller Anniversary Games. The distance: one mile, the personal mission, to undercut Zola Budd’s British record of 4:17.57 which was established eight years before she was born.
“If I can take it there, that would be great,” she declares. “She’s definitely one of the icons of British distance running. I know she’s got a very quick time. If I were to break hers, it would be great.”
Such has been the post-Rio progression that an assault on Svetlana Masterkova’s world best of 4:12.56 is not an impossibility. It would send out quite a message, just a few weeks before her scheduled global tilts, initially over 1500m but with a secondary gambit in the 5000. No longer can the best of African expect to freeze Muir when the racing heats up. In rain, chill or shine, they will need to come ready. And she senses they will.
“Before, I think they might not have taken me as seriously,” she notes. “Certainly now I’ve run very quick times, times faster than them, I think we respect each other and they certainly recognise I’m a threat.”
For tickets to see the world’s best athletes at the Müller Anniversary Games go to www.britishathletics.org.uk
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