Magnificent Muir makes history at European Indoor Championships
BySportsbeat
Published 02/03/2019 at 12:08 GMT
It felt like the whole of Scotland roared when she crossed the line, but Laura Muir was just happy her gran saw her enter athletics immortality.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
The Inverness-born, Glasgow-based star roared to gold in the 3000m, setting a Championship record and becoming the first Brit to successful defend that title at the European indoors.
After the predicted ding-dong battle with Konstanze Klosterhalfen, Muir surged ahead and as part of a second-half 4:05s ended with a mind-bowling final-lap of under 24 seconds.
The Emirates Arena rose to its feet to salute her but it was the hurried hug shared with her grandmother that gave the Scot most satisfaction.
"To be here with the orange bib and deliver as defending champion with so many friends and family watching was amazing," said Muir.
"My gran was there! She always misses the races I win medals in and she's always there when it doesn't go quite as well. It's the first time she's seen me win a Championship medal.
"This tops the lot, doing it in Glasgow.
"To get my first medal indoors was fantastic, but it was in Belgrade, and my first outdoor in Berlin, it was kind of tied with Glasgow which was quite nice but it wasn't in Glasgow.
"It was my mum, dad, gran, vet friends, pretty much all the training group is here, school friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends.
"To get everyone tickets was tough but they're all here but it's fantastic."
Muir, defending double distance champion from Belgrade 2017, won her 1500m heat a couple of hours earlier and conquered a gruelling schedule to grab gold.
It was a magical opening night for the Brits with four golds going to the home team, Muir's triumph coming just half an hour after Katarina Johnson-Thompson won the pentathlon.
Behind Muir and Klosterhalfen, whose joust will go down as one of the finest races in the competition's history, was Welsh star Melissa Courtney in the bronze medal position.
Glasgow 2019 is far from over for Muir – she has the chance to do a historic double-double with the 1500m final on Sunday night and she's already got her eyes on the other prize.
"Having done two in a couple of hours, I'm not sure what I'll do with myself," she said.
"I'm glad it's Sunday not tomorrow. I feel pretty fresh right now considering what I've done.
"It's just going to be recovery and going out to try and retain my title in the 1500m."
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