LAURA MUIR plans to shake off the jetlag and be wide awake for her rematch with Olympic 1500 metres rival Faith Kipyegon at today’s Prefontaine Classic in Oregon.
The long-haul Stateside trip offers the 29-year-old a shot at a second Diamond League win following her successful season opener in Birmingham last weekend.
It will also be the Scot’s first clash with the Kenyan since their epic duel in Tokyo that saw Kipyegon defend her title with Muir taking silver.
But as she continues her comeback from a hip injury, a top-class outing at Hayward Field ahead of July’s world championships at the stadium provides a perfect dress rehearsal, Muir claims.
“Pre is an opportunity for us. I’ve ran in the stadium before a couple of times. It's been really good. But the field is crazy and very strong. It's like the Olympic final plus a few others who are very, very good. So it's going be a quick race.
“We decided we were going to fly in quite close to the meet. We're still training. We're not going to taper. Probably going to be jet-lagged. Probably going to be tired. So I'm not going to take away too much from it. Hopefully, I'm still going to run really well. But if not, I know there's a lot better in the tank for the summer. And it's all about worlds.”
Muir has travelled west with training partner Jemma Reekie who will run her first 800m of the summer. The 24-year-old has been denied a duel with Olympic champion Athing Mu, who has pulled out, but will face British rival Keely Hodgkinson who was an easy winner in Birmingham.
“It’s good to go out there and race before worlds,” Reekie said. “I think I'm just going to stay on UK time. And I'll just be like an evening race.”
In-form Neil Gourley runs the men’s 1500m while Dina Asher-Smith is set to face Olympic champion Elaine Thompson and American Sha’Carri Richardson in a stacked women’s 100m.
Muir believes her trajectory is on track despite two months of inactivity in the spring.
“I'm probably where I probably would expect to be normally,” she said. “We're just really excited because of the amount of training I've missed. And where I'm at is actually really, really good. I've got a couple of months still to build on it. So it's actually quite exciting to see where I can actually go from there.”
Steph Twell can pitch for championship selection this summer when she heads the British team at tonight’s European 10000m Cup in Pace, France.
Zoey Clark, another Birmingham victor over 400m, is part of a large UK contingent at today’s IFAM meeting in Belgium, with Jenny Selman in the 800m and seeking another Commonwealth qualifier after her debut in the British team at March’s world indoors.
“There might be a bit more expectation on me after the indoor season,” the Fifer, 31, said. “And I’m kind of expecting more of myself going into races.”
