Impressive showing by Muir in Rome

Laura Muir (Dundee Hawkhill) excelled at the Rome Diamond League, placing fourth among a world-class 1,500m field, writes our athletics correspondent.

The Milnathort athlete dug in down the home straight as USA’s Jenny Simpson sprinted to victory in 3:59.31.

Muir, timed at 4:00.61, was only marginally outside her Scottish record of 4:00.07 set at last summer’s Paris Diamond League.

The veterinary student has August’s World Championships in Beijing in her sights.

“I feel in great shape,” she said. “I’ve never competed in three rounds before in a World Championships, so I’m hoping to get to the final and perform well.”

European champion Eilidh Child (Pitreavie) had her second outing of the season over 400m hurdles, finishing third in 54.84 – a considerable improvement on last week’s 56.56 in the Czech Republic.

Georganne Moline (USA) won in a world lead 54.47.

A dramatic 100m hurdles saw the field reduced to seven finishers as Olympic champion Sally Pearson and world champion Brianna Rollins both crashed out.

Tiffany Porter (GB) took third in (12.69). The race was won by Sharika Nelvis (USA) 12.52.

A meeting record came in the 100m, with Justin Gatlin (USA) dominating in 9.75 seconds.

There were world leads in the 800m Mohammed Aman (Ethiopia) – 1:43.56; and the 5,000m Yomif Kejelcha (Ethiopia) – 12:58.39.

UK record-holder Shara Proctor was second in the long jump (6.85m), 4cm behind Russian Darya Klishina, while Bianca Williams was sixth in the 200m (23.32).

Picture: SNS. Holding her own in a world-class field: Laura Muir.