THREE Scottish runners, two races, one goal – by the end of the day we will all know how the European Championships went for Laura Muir, Steph Twell and Eilish McColgan.
The trio aim to return from Berlin with a medal around their necks and anticipation has been building all week for the finals of three of Great Britain’s strongest athletes.
Scots Twell and McColgan go in the 5000m at 7.15pm but a quarter-of-an-hour before that Muir aims for gold and the first major outdoor medal of her career. She has been agonisingly close, notably at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships and 2016 Rio Olympics, and after not making the European final in Zurich four years ago, Muir is now overwhelming favourite.
“I’ve been one of the bunch before but now I feel I’ve been separated from the others a little bit for this event,” the 25-year-old Dundee Hawkhill runner said. “But it means people have the confidence in me to perform well so I’m just taking it as a good thing. Not pressure. I’m relaxed and if I’m relaxed I perform well.
“This is completely different from Zurich. I didn’t make the final there. I was third on times going in and I didn’t make the final, I didn’t do well at the Commonwealths a couple of weeks earlier as I got tripped in the last 100m.
“I’m a completely different athlete both physically and mentally. I’ve improved so much in both those areas. I’ve gone from not making the final to hopefully winning the champ-ionship. It’s crazy how far you can come in four years but I’m really proud of myself.”
Muir’s list of plaudits is long, she’s a double European indoor champion and claimed two more medals at the World Indoor Championships in March.
In today’s final there will be no Sifan Hassan, the fastest European over 1500m in 2018, but Muir will have to defeat team-mate Laura Weightman and Polish duo Sofia Ennaoui and Angelika Cichocka.
As Muir attempts to become the first British woman to claim the outdoor European 1500m title, will she be able to produce her Sunday best?
“I’ve proved myself indoors, and outdoors the medals have been stuck on delay,” she said. “It would be great to come here and medal. Not just medal but win that title. That would be a big confidence booster ahead of [the world championships] next year.”
Whilst Hassan’s absence from the final is Muir’s gain, her entry in the 5000m final does Twell and McColgan no favours, the Dutch runner supreme over that distance. Dundee’s McColgan, 27, is the second-fastest European this year and looking in good shape for a medal, whilst Twell has one of the fastest PBs in the field in what looks to be an open race behind Hassan. Sweden’s Meraf Bahta looks a real contender, while Melissa Courtney provides another part of a three-pronged Great Britain assault on the podium.
There are plenty of other Britons in action, with Sheffield’s Adam Hague in the pole vault final, Rosie Clarke in the 3000m steeplechase and Sophie Hitchon throwing for a hammer medal. Podium places are certainly expected in the 4x100m relays, with gold-medal winners Zharnel Hughes and Dina Asher-Smith in line to anchor their teams.
Back in Glasgow and the maiden multi-event European Championships will draw to an end on the city’s streets with the men’s road cycling race.
Mark Cavendish has pulled out through injury but there is no shortage of British talent taking, notably Welshman Luke Rowe who will look to replicate the feats of countryman Geraint Thomas four years ago. Indeed this race will mirror the course of that 2014 Commonwealth Games outing, which could be favourable to sprinters should the conditions align heading towards the Glasgow Green finish line.
That will be music to the ears of Alexander Kristoff, winner of the final stage of this year’s Tour de France, the Norwegian arriving in Scotland as European champion. But a number of Britons will be standing in his way, with Ben Swift, Scott Thwaites and Adam Blythe among those in contention.
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