Olympic 1500m silver medallist on aiming to replicate success in Tokyo, facing Faith Kipyegon and a love for Iceland

Laura Muir’s Olympic 1500m silver medal at last year’s Tokyo Olympics was by far the biggest achievement in her career.

The 29-year-old Scot finished seventh in the 1500m at Rio 2016 while finishes of fifth, fourth and fifth in the discipline at three consecutive World Championships saw Muir get close to the medals but not on the podium.

Now, she has a genuine chance to win medals at both an Olympics and Worlds.

Like in Tokyo, Muir is focusing on just the 1500m and she will be one of the first British athletes to take to the Hayward Field track, with her heats at 02:10 BST on July 16.

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The BBC will show live coverage of all 10 days of action from the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.https://t.co/0d2uqlG22c

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) July 13, 2022

So, what’s the Scot’s target in Oregon?

“To win a medal,” Muir says. “That’s what I set out at the start of the year – to run all three championships and win a medal at all of them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to say I don’t want to go for the gold. That would be amazing but you know, as much as I have a lot of confidence in myself, I am sort of realistic in those terms.

“Some of the times that the girls are running now are faster than what I’ve run. Not to say that I don’t think I could run fast and get close to them and match them. But for me I want to come away from these championships with a medal.

“I think I’m very, very close potentially, if not there. I think it’s been difficult because my races maybe haven’t quite translated. I had two months out at the start of the year but I am caught up now and the last couple of races showed I am at a good spot.”

Muir has taken part in five 1500m races this year and with a best of 4:02.81, is just 25th on the 1500m list for the season. Unsurprisingly, the athlete with the world lead, which was set at Hayward Field at the Pre Classic, is Faith Kipyegon, who beat Muir to Olympic gold in Tokyo.

The time that Kipyegon set in Oregon back on May 28 was the ninth fastest in history and the 28-year-old Kenyan goes into the championships as the favourite.

After the Olympic 1500m final in Tokyo, Muir stated that Kipyegon was “the greatest of all time” and that “she doesn’t get enough credit.”

It’s safe to say that Muir is now experienced enough within the sport to know that it might take another British 1500m record – she set the previous one of 3:54.50 in Japan – to get on the podium and challenge for the gold medal.

“The start list indicates it can be very fast, but at the same time, someone’s got to be willing to take it out for it to be run that quick,” she adds.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I would have to run there or thereabouts [British record] to win a medal and I potentially could run that and not win a medal. I think you have to be in 3:53 or 3:54 shape to win a medal, but whether it will happen on the day I don’t know. It’s going to be an awful lot of fast people.

“If all the runners that are on the start list show up and make it to the final then I think it has got the potential to be the best global final that ever had in terms of strength and depth.

“I think I’m in the best place possible to perform as best as I can. Even saying that I know that I could run the best race of my life, do a personal best and come fourth or fifth. I hope it is enough for a medal.”

Muir arrives in Oregon off the back of a training camp in Colorado, where she trained under the stewardship of Andy Young with teammate Jemma Reekie, who is one of Brits in the 800m alongside Keely Hodgkinson, Alex Bell and Ellie Baker.

With medal hopes in both of the men’s middle distance events, Muir is excited that the British field in both the 800m and 1500m is arguably now the strongest since the 1980s.

“It’s fantastic,” the Scot says. “Actually it’s insane. I remember when I came third in the British Championships  last year, feeling gutted. I came third but it ended up being against three Olympic finalists.

“The standard is insanely high so it’s a fantastic place to be because you want to have people on the team doing well. You want to have people out there inspiring the generation below that and the generation below that and you can finally get this a little bit of a snowball effect.

“It’s fantastic for the sport. It’s amazing to see and I think it’s going to be a really exciting championships because I feel we have quite a split of kind of experienced runners and the new upcoming runners.”

Muir has no doubt helped to inspire the next generation into athletics. Her silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics was one of just six won by Brits, half of which came in the middle distance events.

Since that triumph, has her life changed?

“For me, actually, not really,” Muir adds. “I think a lot of athletes after the Olympics do struggle. For me, if anything, it was just getting that ball rolling and actually for me, I’ve felt more up for this year than if I had not won a medal.

“It has spurred me on – I want more of this, more medals. I was training incredibly well until I picked up the injury but I think having that sort of positive attitude meant that I came back from it really well.

“I was really focused on this year, having the three championships and wanting to perform well in all of them. I knew that I was still going to have to train really hard. I train six days a week and a lot of opportunities I was offered meant flying to different places and missing or disrupting training.”

After competing at London 2017 and Doha 2019 with niggles from injuries sustained earlier in those two years, Muir is now determined that her focus on training will mean she can add another bit of major silverware to the mantle piece.

This year though, she will treat herself to a holiday for the first time since 2018 and it may not be a destination you expect.

“Iceland [in November],” Muir adds. “Nothing too far. I think just having got back from the US, I don’t really want to do another long haul flight again, but I’m someone who is not really overly bothered by the beach in the sun and things. I’d rather be active and see cool things and do different things.

“You’ve got like the hot springs and the geezer and then there’s a volcano which I don’t think is. Lots of really cool walks and there’s like bliss here things like the northern lights.

“My reward is doing well. I don’t feel like I need to buy something or do something to kind of reward myself. I’m very happy with it with the medal.”