MUIR SMASHES SCOTS RECORD

LAURA MUIR RAN A DREAM MILE TO BREAK YVONNE MURRAY’S NATIONAL MARK

MARK SHEARMAN

Dafne Schippers: Diamond League and meeting record for 200m of 21.93

DAFNE SCHIPPERS produced the performance of the meeting with a Diamond League record of 21.93 in the 200m but British eyes were on the runner-up in the women’s mile, Laura Muir, as she smashed the Scottish record. Clocking a world-leading 21.93, world 200m champion Schippers took one hundredth of a second off Gwen Torrence’s long-standing meeting record from 1994 as she also beat the Diamond League record, storming over the line in slightly chilly and damp conditions to win by more than half a second.

Schippers’ fellow sub-22 second sprinter Elaine Thompson, who claimed silver behind Schippers in Beijing last summer, was almost a second off her PB with 22.64 for the runner-up spot in Oslo, while Britain’s Jodie Williams was fifth with 23.29.

“In these conditions, to run under 22 seconds is very special for me,” said Schippers after her performance at a cool and wet Bislett Stadium. “The curve here is excellent, but I must admit the last 50 metres were very tough.

“After all the Diamond Leagues I need to rest and train a little bit before the European Championships in my country. No more races until then.”

Muir won over 1500m at the Bislett Games last year and her fine form continued in the Norwegian city as she ran a Scottish record-breaking 4:19.12 in the Dream Mile behind Faith Kipyegon’s worldleading 4:18.60 to go second on the UK all-time list.

Dafne Schippers: enjoying the traditional Oslo strawberry party

It also put Muir second on the UK all-time rankings behind Zola Budd’s 4:17.57 from 31 years ago. Back in the late summer of 1985, the barefoot Budd clocked her PB in Zurich in a race won by Mary Decker in 4:16.71 – a world record at the time and still the US record today.

Budd later reverted to her native South Africa, but her mile mark survives as the UK record and Muir was just one-and-ahalf seconds short of it. She did however improve Yvonne Murray’s 4:22.64 from 1994 as she added the Scottish mile record to the 1500m record she ran in Monaco last summer.