Laura Muir targets 1500m and 5,000m double at World Athletics Championships - BBC Sport
Double European Indoor champion Laura Muir plans to race in both the 1500m and the 5,000m at the World Championships in London.
Last updated on .From the section Athletics

Briton Laura Muir's double gold at the European Indoor Championships has convinced her to race in both the 1500m and 5,000m at the World Championships in London this summer.

The 23-year-old Scot won her first senior medals in the 1500m and 3,000m in Belgrade at the weekend.

"We went for the double to see how the legs coped with a lot of rounds in a short period," Muir told the BBC.

"Hopefully, come London, I'll double up and do the 1500m and the 5K."

The Kinross athlete regards the shorter distance as her "main event" in August but said she was pleased that the schedule for the heats and finals "work really well to double up".

"I'd love to get on the podium," she added. "That would be my first global-level medal."

Timings, however, were not on her side in Belgrade when it came to celebrating her British record-breaking 1500m triumph on Saturday.

An official repeatedly thwarted her attempt to do a lap of honour before Muir eventually gave her the slip.

She told BBC Radio 5 live: "They were saying they were behind on the programme, but the athletes were out on the track so I thought, 'ach, I'm just going to go'."

Muir is juggling her record-breaking athletics career with her veterinary studies.

"Athletics is quite an individual sport so I can fit everything around it," she said.

"I just go for runs in the morning before I head to lectures, and do runs in the evenings when I get back. It is tough and my recovery is not as great as other athletes' but veterinary always came first for me."

Muir revealed she felt motivated to "work even harder over the winter" after her disappointment at finishing seventh in the 1500m final at the Rio Olympics.

"I wanted to race as best as I could throughout 2017 and it's gone pretty well so far," she said.

"I just seem to be getting faster and faster and it's brilliant."