© Copyright – 2017 – Athletics Illustrated 
Great Britain’s Laura Muir continues to perform at a very high standard. On Jan 4, she broke Liz McColgan’s 25-year-old 5,000-metre indoor British record during the Glasgow Miler Meet at Emirates Arena. Muir finished the race in 14 minutes and 49.12 seconds, bettering McColgan’s record by 14 seconds.
Asked about her performance in relation to her expectations, the 23-year-old told Athletics Illustrated, “I was hoping to run about 15 minutes. I knew my training was going very well over the endurance sessions, so I was thinking if I could break the 15-minute barrier whilst also getting a new British Record that would be great.”
Muir has been in South Africa training.
After finishing in a disappointing seventh during the Rio Olympic 1500-metre final, she went to Paris to compete in the Diamond League at the Stade de France on August 27th. In La Ville Lumière she raced to a new British record time of 3:55.22.
She sat in third place for the first 1050m of the race and then lit up the final 450m to win in convincing fashion. Her performance was a meet record and the world lead.
On Sept 2, Muir captured the 2016 Diamond League title by finishing second in the 1500m at the Zurich track meet. She was pipped at the line by American Shannon Rowbury. The third place finisher was Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands. For the Diamond League win Muir earned $40,000.
Asked if the new record in the longer distance will affect her plans for the 2017 outdoor season Muir said, “[I am] Not sure it changes my plans, my main focus is still the 1500m, but I will consider also running the 5,000m at the world champs as it comes after the 1500 final.”
