Olympics: Laura Muir has unfinished business ahead of maiden appearance at Tokyo Games

As we watched from the far side of the stadium, if seemed as though she was tasered at some point entering the closing bend. Shoulders tightening, stride decelerating, grimace exposing the torture within.

Hope of bronze shrivelled. “Unfortunately the finishing line was too far away,” she reflected afterward. The only comfort from arriving there in seventh place was that she would physically hurt no more.

Five years on, the European champion and twice-overall Diamond League victor has unfinished business to conclude as she prepares for her maiden outing in Tokyo in the 1500m heats last tonight.

Every athletic endeavour since she last touched an Olympic track has been shaped by those prior 30 seconds of angst. A data mine for Muir and her coach Andy Young, who had prepared with acute detail but still had bases uncovered. With much of the same cast reuniting. gold in Japan could be decided again by a break, or a tactical burn-up, or something from left-field.

Now 28, in form and in her prime, the learning curve has been charted so she can peak, come the final, next Saturday night. “I've learned an awful lot out of that race – in terms of what I need to get out of my training to cope with what everyone in my event can do,” she reveals. “So since then we've done an awful lot of nasty training sessions, raced races in different ways, training sessions to do them slightly differently to simulate race situations as well.”

Abrupt challenges at their Scotstoun base, sprinting with sweat dripping at their habitual haunts in South Africa and the south of France, Muir and her training partners including Jemma Reekie compelled to be adept at staying on their toes.

Every competition, big and small, a building block. Learn and feedback. Useful insights gained from significant victories and increasingly rare reversals. Since that night, she has won 44 of her 75 races, excluding championship rounds. A staggering percentage for someone who willingly places herself on the line at major meetings outdoors and in and invites others to bring it on.

“I'm able to deal with so much more than able to do back then,” she asserts. Mentally, more confident too. “All-round a different athlete, a lot stronger.” 

Enough that she briefly considered the middle-distance double here, 800 plus 1500, before opting out. A vicious schedule inter-twined, resisting that temptation made sense. Even after shattering the Scottish 800m record at the outset of last month in Monaco in a time that only Kelly Holmes, among Britons, has bettered.

Instead, the baton of Family Young will be carried in that final by Reekie alone. Muir has plenty to contend with, given that Kipyegon ran the fourth-quickest 1500m in history in Monaco while Sifan Hassan, the world champion, has given no sign of backing out of an extraordinary triple assault that also encircles the 5,000 and 10,000 metres.

An intriguing poser, though, if Rio is rebooted. What if Muir were to find herself at the bell once again, chasing those formidable females, but still primed for a medal? Second time around, I ask, would she courageously give chase and risk implosion or pace herself and trust the pack can be quelled?

“I guess it's a yes and no isn't it? Because Olympics only comes around every four years so you could argue that case for either or,” she smiles. “Should you try and be conservative? Or it is that it only comes round every four years so you want to go for it?” Hobson’s choice perhaps. “I think,” she declares, “I can only ever tell you after the final as to whether as to whether it works or not.”