Laura Muir has a significant objective waiting for her at her emotional return to Glasgow.

Approximately sixty minutes away from the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, where she will compete for success and receive recognition this Saturday, a young Laura Muir would anxiously anticipate the completion of her school day at Kinross High School.

During the cold winter season, Muir would hear the bell and rush to put on her cross-country spikes. She would then make her way to the school playing fields. The rugby and hockey teams would arrive shortly after and turn on the floodlights as they prepared for their afternoon practice in the dark. Muir, illuminated by the headlights from her mother’s car, could be seen running through the muddy fields.

A young girl, working alone, planting the seeds for a successful athletics career that has resulted in winning an Olympic silver medal, three world medals (both indoors and outdoors), and over six European titles.

During the upcoming summer, she will strive to improve upon her impressive runner-up finish in the 1,500m race at the Tokyo Olympics as the Games take place in Paris. However, she has important matters to address in the city where she resided for nearly ten years before moving last year.

Muir stated that she would have chosen to not participate in the World Indoor Championships this weekend if they were not being held in Glasgow. However, the opportunity to compete at a highly esteemed event in such a significant location, which played a role in shaping her as an athlete and a 30-year-old, was too tempting to pass up.

“This is a tremendous opportunity, as Scotland has never before hosted a global track championships,” she remarks. “I never expected to have this chance and I am uncertain if I will have another one in my future career.”

“I have a strong emotional connection to this place because it feels like home. However, it is also important to me because I want to motivate the next generation. Where better to do so than in Scotland, on a track where I have trained? That is significant.”

More than ten years have passed since Muir’s initial participation in a worldwide competition. A few years earlier, her previous coach Andy Young sent a lively message to an athletics acquaintance, declaring, “I possess the future Paula Radcliffe/Kelly Holmes.” Her substantial collection of medals and record-setting performances have yet to refute this confident statement.

Before graduating from university in 2018, Muir led a demanding double life, juggling her commitments to both elite athletics and studying for a veterinary medicine degree. According to Young, who spoke in 2017, Muir prioritized her studies as her main focus while downplaying her aspirations in athletics.

At that time, Muir had already established her abilities in European competitions. However, during the 2016 Olympics, she faced difficulty on the grand stage. Her ambitious attempt to keep up with the gold and silver medallists in the 1,500m final caused her to suffer and ultimately finish in seventh place.

Rewording: Her exceptional showing at the Tokyo Games, which were postponed due to Covid, five years later, served as a strong redemption from previous disappointments. She achieved this in a remarkable fashion by setting a new British record and winning a silver medal, finishing second only to the dominant Kenyan double Olympic and four-time world champion, Faith Kipyegon.

Following her success at the 2022 World Championships where she achieved a bronze medal, Muir, along with her training partner Jemma Reekie from Scotland, went through a challenging time after leaving their coach, Dave Young, due to allegations of controlling behavior during a training camp in South Africa. Muir has since chosen to relocate to Manchester and work with new coach Steve Vernon, stating that she is content and satisfied with the new arrangement.

This marks the beginning of a new chapter for her and, considering her age, possibly the start of the end. It is hard to imagine her participating in the Los Angeles Olympics in four years, therefore diminishing her chances of attaining a world championship.

This Saturday, she will strive to energize the lively afternoon for the Glasgow home fans as she competes in the World Indoor 3,000m final, only 25 minutes before her fellow Scot and world champion Josh Kerr also competes.

Her task is considerable in one of the most competitive events of the entire tournament, placing fourth based on personal records and sixth this season. However, she is determined to earn a medal on a track she is intimately familiar with.

Muir expresses that her main focus is on winning a medal in Paris during the summer. She is confident in her ability to achieve this goal, despite the challenges of competing in the 3,000m, which is not her primary event (1,500m). She aims to make the most of the opportunity and hopes it will lead to a podium finish.

“It would be incredible to win the world title with the support of the home crowd.”

She would not be discouraged if she did not meet her goal. She already has a large collection of medals, which she never would have thought possible during her dreary afternoons collecting mud in Kinross long ago.

“I would be content with my career if I were to retire tomorrow, even without all of my medals,” she states. “The fact that I have not won a world title does not lessen my satisfaction in any way.”

I am extremely proud of my accomplishments and I plan to continue running for many years to come. You won’t be getting rid of me anytime soon.

Source: independent.co.uk