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British middle-distance runner Laura Muir raced in Cardiff on Sunday. She won the 3000-metre indoor race at the Cardiff Metropolitan University Christmas Classic meet. In so doing, she secured a World Athletics Indoor Championship qualifying time.

The 1500m silver medallist from the 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympic Games put on a show by clocking an 8:34.39 performance, the fourth-fastest by a British woman all time. The performance was a strong rust buster.

As it stands, the only British athletes to go faster are Muir and five-time Olympian Jo Pavey.

In 2017 in Karlsruhe, Germany Muir ran her indoor best of 8:26.41. In Stuttgart, Germany in 2007, Pavey ran on a 200m indoor track 8:31.50 for her personal best.

Georgia Bell, of the Shaftsbury Barnet Harriers, finished in second place stopping the clock at 8:49.63. Innes Fitzgerald, with the Exeter Harriers, took third in the time of 9:06.26. She won the U20 European Cross Country Championships the previous weekend.

The youngster, Fitzgerald, in 2022 at age 16, clocked an 8:59.67 3000m outdoors.

For 30-year-old Muir, the meet was an unusually early, near-winter race. The effort puts her in good stead for competing in the World Indoor Championships taking place at home for Muir in Glasgow March 1-3.

Glasgow will host the 19th edition of the World Athletics Indoor Championships from 1-3 March 2024. Watch three action-packed days of intense competition in an intimate arena and witness the raw athleticism and talent of many of the world’s best athletes. Find out more here: https://worldathletics.org/

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