Such is the calibre of Laura Muir as an athlete, in her twelve years since breaking onto the international stage, not once has she had to contemplate failing to making the British team for a major championships.
Until this year.
2025 forced Muir to confront the novel, and alarming, prospect that she would not be selected for GB for the biggest event of the season.
Injury, not loss of form, was the reason for Muir’s concern, but this made little difference to the fact that just weeks ago, she was seriously having to consider the prospect of sitting at home watching next month’s World Championships rather than competing in them.
“After the Olympics last year, I had been managing an injury, soI wasn't able to do much training until January and then, unfortunately, I got injured in February again,” the Milnathort native reveals.
“I tore my calf but then it went into my Achilles so it took a long, long time to heal.
“And so even as recently as six weeks ago, I was actually pretty worried about not making the Worlds team And the 1500m in Britain is super-competitive now so I knew it wasn't going to be straightforward to make it into the team.
“To be honest, I’ve never been this unsure about whether I was going to make a team or not, not for a long time anyway.
“I've never taken qualifying for major championships for granted but I've always had a bit of a buffer where I would probably get the discretionary spot if anything went wrong at trials or I've had a wild card from winning the Diamond League and I didn't have either of those buffers this year.
“So all of that meant this year was the most uncertain I've gone into a season but I just had to believe in myself.”
But Muir, who has won 14 major championships medals to date, is nothing if not a workhorse and she applied that mindset to her rehabilitation just as she has to her training over the years.
“It's never fun being injured, especially when I just love to run and so when you can't do that, it's very frustrating. But I knew what my goal was and I knew that if I want to get back, I’d have to go through all the rehab,” she says.
“But I cross trained really hard and managed to get my fitness to a pretty decent level and then it was really nice to get back to running.”
Timings worked in Muir’s favour; with this year’s World Championships, which will be held in Tokyo, not taking place until mid-September, the UK Championships, which double as the World Championship trials, were pushed back to early August, which meant Muir was afforded the extra time she needed to get if not fully fit, then fit enough to secure selection for GB’s World Championships team.
Muir, despite her surprise defeat to compatriot, Sarah Calvert, in the final of the UK Championships, did enough to guarantee she will be confirmed in GB’s team when it’s announced next week meaning she can, finally, focus on the World Championships.
This championships will be significant in that it’ll be Muir’s first outing on the international championship stage since she began her new coaching partnership.
In January, Muir announced that she would be teaming up with her former 1500m rival, Laura Weightman, and former 1500m world champion turned athletics' commentator, Steve Cram.
“The coaching change has been good for me. Laura and Steve have so much experience in so many different areas and they complement each other in so many different ways.
“It does still feel quite surreal because I used to race against Laura and Steve has watched and commented on so many of my races. So that is strange but I like that I know both of them so well,” says Muir, who has recently announced a partnership with Scottish supplement brand, MOVE Pre-Workout.
“It's been unfortunate being injured so we've not had a clear run at training yet but I've been doing more gym work and Steve likes a 500m rep which, to be honest I'm never thrilled about
“But there's definitely some different sessions to what I’m used to. Steve is quite intuitive so if he thinks I'm doing okay, he'll add an extra rep and Laura's really good at reading me and so knows when to either back-off or push-on. Both have different skill sets for different things.
“It’s been refreshing to try something new and I'm at a point in my career where I've ticked so many boxes so I now need to look at what can I do to get a little bit more from myself.
“And I’ve added Move Pre-Workout into my training too- it's really nice to be supporting a local company and they've got a product range which focuses on endurance so I couldn't ask for a company that sits any better with what I want.”
Muir goes into next month’s World Championships, which begin on the 13th of September, somewhat unsure of what to expect in performance-terms.
The red-hot favourite for gold is defending champion, Faith Kipyegon, who has established herself as close to unbeatable in recent years, but the other medals are far less pre-determined.
Muir knows exactly what it takes to get her hands on World Championship silverware having won bronze in 2022 and while she’s never one to talk up her chances, she admits her ambitions for this year’s event, which will be held at the same as the track and field at the Tokyo Olympics, are no different to usual.
“It will be so nice to go back to the Olympic stadium where I won my silver medal and have a crowd this time with it having been empty during the Olympics due to the pandemic,” she says. “Of course, I'd love to win another medal. That's always the aim but I'm also a realistic person and I know that certain things have to go a certain way to get certain results. The 1500m is so unpredictable and it's so competitive not just in terms of the times the top runners are running but in terms of the strength and depth.
“So for this championships, considering the build-up I've had, I just want to enjoy it and do the best that I can and so we'll have to wait and see what that is.”
There is, though, a dark cloud currently hanging over track and field, and particularly over events in which Kenyan athletes are at the forefront such as Muir’s.
Over the past few years, Kenyan athletes failing drugs tests has become a regular occurrence, with around 150 currently serving doping suspensions. Indeed, earlier this summer, an incredible 26 Kenyan athletes were banned in one week alone.
There are relatively few aspersions being cast on Kipyegon directly but there’s little doubt as to the damage that the Kenyan doping epidemic is doing to Muir’s sport.
The Scot admits she’s well aware of the scourge of Kenyan doping that’s currently flooding athletics but she, unsurprisingly, makes every effort to remain undistracted by events that are well outwith her control.
“It's tricky when you see this many positive test results. On the one hand it's good that they're catching them because you do get worried when it becomes quiet,” she says.
“So the more they can catch individuals, the better and hopefully that does send a signal that you can't get away with it. But unfortunately it's life; people cheat.
“All I can do is focus on myself when it comes to racing and training and hope that I can go out there and be successful. It is hard when these things are out of your control but I can't dwell on it too much because because you want to stay motivated.
“I love the sport and I'm interested in the sport and I like to stay educated about things that are happening. So it's about getting the timings right and not using my energy when I don't want to use my energy on those things.”
“Now, when I'm trying to really lock into championships-focus, it doesn't help to have distractions so for now, I’m just focussing on me.”
