THE latest stop on Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie’s lucrative grand tour of Europe hits the Czech Republic on Tuesday night, with the Scots duo again out to divide and conquer.
Fresh from the setting the second-quickest 1500 metres time of the year in Poland on Sunday, Muir drops back to 800m at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava while Reekie, who has matched the European champion’s three-race winning streak, will take another crack at breaking the four-minute barrier for the first time over 1500m.
The 22-year-old has the ideal rabbits with Kenya’s Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon in the field as well as fellow Scot Eilish McColgan and newly-crowned British champion Laura Weightman.
Now among the elite following a sensational 2020, few would doubt that Reekie is the mix for an Olympic medal, whether in Tokyo or Paris beyond.
She said: “I can say that’s definitely the target. Even going into my last few races indoors, I was going in more confident. I was staying relaxed rather than panicking.”
Muir, ranked third in the world over two laps, gets a rematch with Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui, who was second to the 27-year-old two days ago, as well as in-form Northern Irishwoman Ciara Mageean.
Jake Wightman will bid to rebound from his surprise defeat in the men’s 800m final at the domestic championships on Saturday with another outing over the distance in a race that incorporates UK number one Elliot Giles and Scottish rival Guy Learmonth.
And the European bronze medallist, 26, wants to prove he is more than just a miler during the remainder of the outdoor season.
Wightman said: “I feel like doubling up between the 800m and 1500m is how the old school middle distance used to run and I put myself in that category. Which is why I don't like being called 1500m guy stepping down to a 800m runner. I am a 800m runner as well.”
Meanwhile, incoming UK Athletics performance director Sara Symington has vowed to build stronger links with Scotland and the home nations to unearth the next Laura Muir.
The two-time Olympic cyclist faces the potentially awkward process of forging ties with Scottish Athletics director of performance Stephen Maguire, just weeks after being part of the interview process that surprisingly passed him over for the role of Olympic head coach.
But with a broader remit than her recent predecessors across the sport, Symington insists she wants a network that serves all.
“It is about stronger closer relationship building and stronger working with home nations going forward,” she said. “There has to be. They deliver the pathways and they are the ones who produce the talent coming up into the GB programme.”
With the sport facing a potential financial black hole – and difficulty in hosting money-spinning Diamond Leagues - if it cannot replace its £2 million television deal with the BBC, there is a risk, Symington acknowledges, that it could mean cutbacks right across track and field.
But she said: “If that happens, you cut your cloth accordingly. That’s ultimately what you have to do. Obviously, we will put our best foot forward to retain the consistency of lottery funding. But if that isn’t the case, you cut your cloth according and prioritising where you put your money.
“Athlete Awards will stay the same. But there will be a prioritisation about where you actually put your money: whether it’s sports science, sports medicine, events, competitions, staffing. It could be any one of those areas.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here