ANDY YOUNG, coach of Laura Muir, says he was quickly put into retirement by her rapid improvement when they first started working together in 2011.
Young began coaching Muir in September that year and, within three months, she had earned her first GB vest — at the European Cross Country Championships.
“In the very first sessions we did on the roads I could keep up. By the time we got to December she had made huge steps forwards,” he said.
“Because of her studies she couldn’t do a session with the group but I did a session with her ahead of the Europeans. I lasted one rep and she’d broken me. I think that was the very last session I ever did. That’s the one she ended my running career in.”
Muir has matured into one of the best 1500m runners in the world under Young’s guidance, and the Scot says her dominant Oslo Diamond League win was the catalyst for her confidence boost.