LAURA Muir has revealed she is all in for next summer’s Commonwealth Games and the chance to bring a title home to Scotland.
The Olympic 1500 metres silver medallist has joined the list of those who will ignore calls from UK Athletics to prioritise the world and European championships and instead plan to line up in Birmingham.
It is an opportunity, insists the 28-year-old, to plug one of the few holes in her outstanding CV with athletics to be staged at the redeveloped Alexander Stadium.
And having excused herself from the long-haul trip to Gold Coast in 2018, there was little danger that Muir would be sidelined again.
She said: “It means a lot to me to compete for Scotland, especially as you can only do it every four years. Birmingham was always definitely going to be in the plan for next summer.
“When I think about championships, emotionally it will mean the most to me, just because you don't get to run for Scotland very often. And lots of friends and family will be able to make the trip down to Birmingham to watch.
“And then I think about missing out in 2018 and Glasgow not going well in 2014. So I feel like I've got a bit of unfinished business with the Games.”
Ditto for the world championships, just three weeks beforehand in Oregon, where Muir can expect to reunite with her Tokyo rivals but feel all the more emboldened to finally end up on the podium following three finishes inside the top six.
It might mean that the subsequent Europeans in Munich - where the Scot will be the defending champion from the previous edition in 2018 – is the odd one out in a compressed schedule.
“Luckily, I'm a European champion already so that kind of takes the pressure off a little bit for that championship,” she conceded. “But I’d certainly love to compete in all three and do well in all three.
“I think there should be enough of a gap between then. It depends upon the timetables and how things work, but I think we should be able to juggle pretty well.”
At her side will undoubtedly be her long-time mentor Andy Young, currently at the centre of a firestorm surrounding the support for athletes at UKA with the governing body understood to have proposed reducing or erasing contracts for some of the country’s leading coaches.
It is believed that some athletes will consider withdrawing from UKA’s world-class performance programmes and opt to work outside the system in a rejection of those changes, the latest sign of growing discontent with the current regime, led by performance director Sara Symington and CEO Joanna Coates.
Muir is awaiting the full details of a post-Tokyo review with keen interest. “As yet we’ve not really had anything,” she confirmed. “So I think it's just hard to see really, until we know what they're planning and what they're going to do and get into the details.”
At the recent Diamond League finale in Zurich, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe was urged to intervene by a group of athletes who made their unhappiness clear. Those critical views must be listened to, Muir underlined. “I think athletes’ voices are hugely important and we're the most experienced in terms of sport and what we need. So I think communication is really important. There needs to be communication with the athletes as to how to best support them.”
The exact status of Young, who also guides Tokyo 800m finalist Jemma Reekie, remains unclear. Muir, unsurprisingly, sees immense value in the backing he receives from central funds. “I would hope so with an Olympic silver medallist and a fourth placer,” she added.
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