Laura Muir

On 22 July, Muir broke the Kelly Holmes' British record for the 1500 metres with a time of 3:57.49 to win the Diamond League event in London's Olympic Park.

The 2016 Rio Olympic Games were unsuccessful for her, as initially slow tactical 1500m final race turned nearly into a speed test, and placed third with 150m to go she faded to seventh at the finish line in 4:12.88. The winner, Faith Kipyegon of Kenya in 4:08.92, ran last two laps in the fast 800 metres races pace of 1:57.2.[16]

Less then two weeks later, on 27 August, Muir showed her potential, however, beating her UK record by more than two seconds with a world-leading time of 3m 55.22s to win the event at the Diamond League meet in Paris.[17] A few days later, she became only the third British woman to win a Diamond Trophy as she won the 1500m title in Zurich.[18] Her mark from Paris made her the fastest woman in the world over 1500m for the year.

On 4 January, racing the 5000 metres for the second time ever, Muir broke 25-year-old British indoor record held by her fellow Scot Liz McColgan, clocking 14m 49.12s in Glasgow. She was the only competitor as it was a mixed 3K race.[19] Exactly a month later, she set European indoor 3000 metres record in Karlsruhe in a time of 8m 26.41s, beating Russian Liliya Shobukhova's mark by 1.45 seconds and 2016 Olympic 5000m silver medallist Hellen Obiri.[20][21] On 18 February, Muir broke the European indoor 1000 metres record at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix. With her time of 2m 31.93s (within a second of the world record), she beat Russian Yuliya Chizhenko's European record and Kelly Holmes’s British mark.[22]

Muir continued her record-breaking form in March, dominating at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade. She took gold in the 1500m event, breaking Doina Melinte's 32-year old championship record along the way,[23] and followed it up by taking a second title in the 3000m event with another championship record the next day.[24]

Muir (right) in the 1500m final of the 2017 World Championships

She finished fourth in the 1500m and sixth in the 5000m at the World Championships in London. Over the shorter distance Muir clocked 4:02.97 losing by only 0.38 s to the winner, Faith Kipyegon, and by just 0.07 s to South Africa's Caster Semenya in third; Jenny Simpson of USA finished second. Following the championships, she announced that she would miss the 2018 Commonwealth Games in April in order to focus on her veterinary medicine exams.[25]

In March, Muir competed at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, where she won the bronze medal in the 3000 m, followed by a silver medal in the 1500 m two days later. Both events were won by Ethiopia's multiple world record-holder Genzebe Dibaba. In first Muir lost to Sifan Hassan representing the Netherlands in a blanket finish by 0.1 seconds, but she won with Hassan by more than a second over 1500m.[26][27]

In August, she won the 1500 metres title at the European Championships in Berlin, as the first British woman ever to win the European 1500m gold.[28]

She followed this breakthrough by winning her second Diamond League title over 1500 metres, her first since the move of the series to a championship format.

In February, Muir broke 31-year-old British indoor mile record held by Kirsty Wade by more than five seconds, stopping the clock at the world third-fastest time of 4:18.75 at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix. She was 1.61 s short of a European record.[29]

At the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow, she defended both her 1500m and 3000m titles to secure the 'double-double', improving her own championship record at the longer distance.[30]

Muir finished fifth over the 1500m at the Doha World Championships in a time of 3:55.76.[15]

During first pandemic season in 2020, Muir broke Kelly Holmes' British record for the 1000 metres in a time of 2m 30.82s.[31] She won all her three 1500m races (Stockholm, Chorzów, Berlin), with all times under 3:58.50. She also won two of her six 800m competitions (Marseille, Ostrava).[15]

On 9 February 2021, she came up with a good start to her season in Liévin, becoming the first British woman to break the four-minute barrier for the indoor 1500 metres, and taking the record back from fellow Scot Jemma Reekie with a time of 3m 59.58s (2nd after Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay).[32] Over 1500m Muir then won the USATF Grand Prix in Eugene, Gateshead Diamond League, and came third in Rome Diamond League (behind only Hassan and Kipyegon). At the end of June, she lost to both Keely Hodgkinson and Reekie in the 800m at the British Championships in 2:00.24 to set a personal best of 1:56.73 in July, when winning the Monaco Diamond League.[15]

At the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in August 2021, Muir won the silver medal in the 1500 metres in a time of three minutes 54.50 seconds, improving her own British record. She beat 2019 world champion in the event, Sifan Hassan (3:55.86), finishing behind only Kipyegon who ran 3:53.11.[33] It was Scotland’s first individual Olympic medal in any track event since the 1988 Seoul Games, when Liz McColgan won 10,000m silver.[34]

• Diamond League winner (1500 m): 2016[35]
• Diamond League champion (1500 m): 2018[36]
  • 2015 – 1500m: Oslo Bislett Games
  • 2016 – 1500m: London Anniversary Games (MR NR), Meeting de Paris (WL MR NR)
  • 2018 – Birmingham British Grand Prix (1000m PB), Brussels Memorial Van Damme (1500m)
  • 2019 – 1500m: Stockholm Bauhaus-Galan, London Anniversary Games
  • 2020 – 1500m: Stockholm Bauhaus-Galan (WL)
  • 2021 – Gateshead British Grand Prix (1500m), Monaco Herculis (800m PB)

• British Championships titles
  • 800 m: 2018
  • 1500 m: 2015, 2016
• British Indoor Championships titles
  • 800 m: 2014
  • 1500 m: 2013, 2015
  • 3000 m: 2018, 2019

• Scottish Athlete of the Year: 2015, 2016, 2018, 2021[37]