by Larry Eder
This is Stuart Weir’s piece on Laura Muir winning her first CG gold in the women’s 1,500 meters! Just yesterday, Laura won bronze in the 800 meters with this superhuman sprint over the last 50 meters, taking the bronze at the tape.
Now the Scottish superstar takes the gold in the 1,500 meters in 2022; Laura Muir finally wins the 1,500 meters after three Commonwealth Games in her career.
Laura Muir has had several firsts in the past two years. After being oh so close in 2017 and 2019, Laura won her first World Championships medal, taking bronze in a fast, okay, insanely fast, 1,500-meter final. Rewatch the video. She did not even second guess that move. Laura Muir engaged. And remember, Laura Muir took an Olympic medal in 2021 in Tokyo, the silver, in the women’s 1,500 meters.
That is not something one does on the cuff. Andy Young, Laura Muir’s coach, spoke to editor Larry Eder the day after the bronze in Eugene and was positively beaming. RunBlogRun’s editor asked Andy if Laura would compete in both the Commonwealth Games and Europeans and Andy Young gave him a look that said it all. As the editor translated it, “of course.”
Laura Muir has gone to the next level. She won gold and bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and now, she will head to Munich in one week to defend her 1,500m title from Berlin 2018, a changed and more confident racer.
The following is Stuart Weir’s piece on the women’s 1,500 meters in Birmingham, England, on August 7, 2022, the last day of athletics in the current Commonwealth Games.
Laura Muir!
Laura Muir won the Commonwealth Games 1500m in some style with a fine and courageous example of front running; she took control of the race at the halfway stage and never looked like losing it.
She felt that she had unfinished business with the Commonwealths!. In Glasgow in 2014, she was tripped. The 2018 Games in Australia, held in the British spring, clashed with her university Veterinary exams.
1 Laura Muir (Scotland) 4:02.75
2 Ciara Mageean (Northern Ireland) 4:04.14
3 Abbey Caldwell (Australia) 4:04.79
4 Linden Hall (Australia) 4:05.09
5 Jemma Reekie (Scotland) 4:05.33
6 Winnie Nanyondo (Uganda) 4:05.68
