Dundee athlete Laura Muir exploded into world-class company with a stunning victory over 1,500m at the Sainsbury’s Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on Saturday.
Already having posted the world lead over 800m from her victory in Glasgow last month, the 20-year-old veterinary student took on an elite field over the longer distance, settling into third place for the opening four laps.
Former Ethiopian athlete Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) pushed the pace alongside Hellen Obiri (Kenya), passing through 1,200m in three minutes 19 seconds, with Muir still holding third.
As the bell sounded for the final lap of 200m it was Muir, a Dundee Hawkhill Harriers runner, who surged ahead and with 100m remaining had to dig deep into every ounce of her reserves as Hassan and Obiri tried to claw back the lead.
True grit saw Muir doggedly fight to the finish in a personal best four minutes 05.32 seconds, two hundredths ahead of Hassan with Russian Elena Korobkina’s 4:05.78 edging out Obiri for third.
A testament to Muir’s time, third on the 2014 world list, is that it has only ever been bettered in UK terms by Olympic double champion Dame Kelly Holmes.
The Milnathort athlete said: “I knew I was in good shape, it was just a matter of having a good race. There was some bumping and barging, four or five years ago that would have put me off. I knew I had a good kick. I don’t like losing.
“I was really shocked; I didn’t know I could run that fast. I felt really good and I found myself holding myself back at some points so it was really good.
“The likes of Obiri and Hassan are world-class athletes so it gives me a lot of confidence.
“It makes it a bit difficult (running well over both 800m and 1,500m) to choose, I think 800m for the worlds but it would be hard to say which is better for me at the moment.”
Muir now has the satisfaction being able to focus on either the 800m or 1,500m at the World Indoor Championships in the Polish city of Sopot next month.
Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba front ran her way to her third world record in 15 days over two miles, smashing the previous best by six seconds, timed at nine minutes 00.48 seconds.
Ethiopian colleague Hiwot Ayalew followed a distant second in 9:21.59 while Scottish Commonwealth 1,500m medallist Stephanie Twell ran well to take third clocking a personal best 9:42.41.
VP Glasgow’s Jo Moultrie also recorded a personal best (9:46.77) placing fifth one place and four seconds ahead of GB veteran Helen Clitheroe in sixth.
Pitreavie’s Eilidh Child, who had looked out of sorts at last week’s UK championships, posted a season’s best over 400m, clocking 52.49 seconds to finish third, beating newly-crowned UK champion Margaret Adeoye in fourth. Regina George (Nigeria) won in 51.78, with Kaliese Spencer (Jamaica) 52.14.
Nigel Levine won the 400m with a personal best 45.71 ahead of Luguelin Santos (Dominica) 46.08.
British sprint champion James Dasaolu won the men’s 60m, despite pulling a hamstring 40m out from the finish. The UK champion held off Jamaica’s Nesta Carter 6.53 and 37-year-old former world champion Kim Collins (St Kitts & Nevis) 6.55. Dwain Chambers was fourth.
There was no happy return to Birmingham for Jenny Meadows, who finished fifth in the 800m, but Lasswade’s Guy Learmonth clocked a personal best, with Mohamed Aman (Ethiopia) the winner in a national record time of 1:44.52.
Jamie Bowie (Inverness) finished third in the 400m B race in a personal best 46.58, edging closer to Brian Whittle’s Scottish record of 45.98, set back in 1988.
In the field 2012 Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford returned to competition following a dismal 2013 to finish third behind Aleksandr Menkov’s (Russia) 8.14m and Jinzhe Li’s (China) 8.12.
Pole vaulter Holly Bleasdale continued her run of fine form, reaching up to 4.71m two centimetres down on her season’s best to finish 10 clear of Tina Sutej (Slovenia).