Laura Muir does the double-double
Last updated 4th Mar 2019
Scottish athletics star Laura Muir's become the first runner to win double back to back European Indoor titles with a dominant victory in the 1500m on the last night of the championships in Glasgow.
The Glasgow University graduate knew she could not let her home crowd down as she followed up her 3000m success the Emirates Arena.
The 25-year-old led from the front and powered away in the final two laps to record a time of 4 minutes 5.92 seconds to finish more than three seconds ahead of the field.
She said: "I set myself a big task this weekend and as it came closer I thought 'Oh, what have I done?' Everybody started setting world-lead and national records and the strength in depths of the fields were much stronger than they were last time round.
"But I just knew there's no way I can't win these medals in front of a home crowd and I'm just so pleased I could do that.
"Nobody can take that way - that's it done. Nobody can be the first person again to do it. It's really, really special and I'm so pleased I could do it here.
"All my friends and family were watching out there so to come away with those performances meant so much to me. My training partners, other family and friends, my mum, dad and my gran were out there so it was really special.''
Muir - who is the outdoor European champion at 1500m - looked totally in command as she embraced her status as clear favourite.
"I'm so experienced now, I know how hard I can push it,'' she said. "I'm at that stage now where I am confident in what I can do.
"I have shown I can deal with that pressure. I can't really imagine being in a much more high-pressured environment than the last few days, and I have been cool as a cucumber really.''
The next target for Muir is winning a medal at the World Championships in Doha later this year. She won silver and bronze in the World Indoors in Birmingham last year.