LAURA Muir was declared the 21st best female athlete on the planet yesterday– as she prepares to add to her legend in this weekend’s home European Indoor Championships.
World governing body the IAAF unveiled a new algorithm in the mode of the Fifa rankings in an attempt to calculate and rank the world’s top pound-for-pound athletic talent, regardless of what event they are entered into.
And the raw data means that Muir, the top ranked 1500m female runner on the planet, has to settle for 19th behind a top three of Kenyan steeplechaser Beatrice Chepkoech, controversial hyper-androgynous South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya and high jumper Maria Lasitskene, the Russian who will compete in Glasgow this fortnight as an athlete from a neutral association.
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For the record, that is 42 spots ahead of one of her main rivals, Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia, but 11 places behind her Dutch rival Sifan Hassan in 10th, although she will not travel to Glasgow this weekend. With Hassan out of the mix, Muir’s main rival as she attempts to defend the continental 1500m and 3000m titles which she claimed in Belgrade in 2017 is expected to be Konstanze Klosterhalfen of Germany. Logistics are the other main obstacle to be negotiated, with less than two hours between her 1500m heat at 7.20pm on the Friday night and her straight final at 9.10pm. But, having taken five seconds off the British indoor mile record a fortnight ago, Muir is certainly in great shape.
“People are talking like it is all a foregone conclusion but every medal in its own right would be very special because there are lot of good athletes out there,” commented her coach Andy Young.
“To get one gold is going to be a challenge, let alone trying to get two."
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“Klosterhalfen is running very well and Sofia Ennoui is running very well,” added Young. “I am sure there will be a tremendous battle. Hopefully the heat shouldn’t be too big a challenge for Laura, but after a gap of two hours it is into the 3k final which is obviously a big challenge. But she is physically in a good place, running very well. So I think it is definitely a challenge worth taking on.”
American 200m runner Noah Lyles tops the lists in the men’s ranks, ahead of Abderrahman Samba of Qatar in the 400m hurdles and marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge.
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