EILIDH Doyle, Laura Muir’s fellow former Kinross High School pupil, said the 24-year-old capturing a world medal would be celebrated across Scotland, writes Stewart Fisher. The 31-year-old 400m runner, who enters the competition with her countrywoman Zoey Clark on Friday, is well aware how stiff the competition is in tonight’s straight 3,000m final.

“It would be amazing for our little town of Kinross, amazing for our school,” said Doyle. “I think it would be great for sport in Scotland. And it would be amazing for Laura to get that global medal that she so rightly deserves If she can get that, it will really push her on for the next World Championship and, hopefully, the next Olympics. She’s won the Europeans. But this is a big step up for her. She’ll face really strong competition with the likes of [Sifan] Hassan and [Genzebe] Dibaba, so for her to medal in that sort of field would be incredible for her, the sport in Scotland – and the whole UK.

“I think we’re in a good position, as a team. It’s a funny year. Some people have really targeted the World Indoors. Some others, like myself, are using it as a platform for the Commonwealth Games. And some people are just completely not doing it. So it’s not going to be like a normal World Champs. But we’ve got a strong team and I’m confident that we can get some medals.”