Muir eyeing world glory after stroll in London
LAURA MUIR is now gunning for global glory after tuning up with victory in the 1,500 metres at the Anniversary Games in London. The 26-year-old bolted away on the last lap to win in 3:58.25 for the perfect tonic with the IAAF world championships in Doha just over two months away.
But Muir, whose training partner Jemma Reekie was seventh in 4:02.09, says it won’t be a walk in the park.
She said: ‘The girls are strong and I know that my advantage is in that kick, so I just sat in there and tried to take it easy. It was all about winning today and I did that.
‘I posted my second-fastest time and I’m in really good shape. It’s all about Doha but to perform in front of these guys is a great feeling.’
Andy Butchart slashed over two seconds off his Scottish record for fifth in the 5,000m in 13:06.21 as Ethiopia’s Olympic bronze medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet claimed victory.
And the 27-year-old reckons he’s got even more in the tank.
‘This was massive. I am exactly where I want to be. It’s incredible to run that time and it is a big confidence boost and I can go faster and break 13 minutes,’ he said.
Beth Dobbin lowered her Scottish
200m record to 22.50 secs to finish third behind Olympic champion Elaine Thompson.
Amid all the fast times clocked at the London Anniversary Games yesterday, the most touching story was that of one of the slowest recorded. Britain’s James Ellington is back and running again.
The 33-year-old sprinter covered 100m for the first time since the motorcycle crash that could have killed him in January 2017.
Following that accident, there were fears he would never walk again, let alone run, as Ellington suffered fractures to his legs, pelvis and an eye socket.
In training, he was struggling to sprint 60m without pain. Yet at yesterday’s Diamond League meeting he defied his injuries to return to the elite start line.
Ellington did not trouble the leaders, finishing ninth in his heat, but this was about more than a time of 10.93sec. This was a celebration of an unlikely comeback.
‘In the warm-up area, I could feel my pelvis,’ said Ellington, who was running his first 100m for three years. ‘I had a massive backflip two or three days ago where I couldn’t walk.
‘There was no way on the planet I was not going to make that start line. You’d have had to chop off my legs.’
Looking into the camera and being broadcast live on BBC, he added: ‘Anybody out there who doubts themselves, don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it.
‘Pretty much 99.99 per cent of people wrote me off, didn’t even think I’d walk again properly.
‘For me, this is my second-to-last milestone. I wasn’t expecting anything fast. I’ve seen glimpses of speed in training but literally that is the first time I’ve sprinted over 60m since my accident. After this, I can knock it on the head, try to heal up and achieve my last milestone which is the 2020 Olympics, and I’ll be there.’ Britain did have two representatives in the 100m final in Adam Gemili and Zharnel Hughes. Five men ran it in under 10 seconds and Hughes finished second with a season best of 9.95, just 0.02 short of South African winner Akani Simbine. ‘I’m quite happy,’ said 24-year-old Hughes. ‘I messed up the race a little bit, I stumbled.’ Meanwhile, on the track where he became world champion in 2017, Norway’s Karsten Warholm broke his own European 400m hurdles record in 47.12sec.