World Athletics Championships: Laura Muir says calf injury won't derail 1,500m medal bid
Last Updated: 30/09/19 4:49pm
Laura Muir says she is still targeting a medal at the World Athletics Championships despite having her preparations derailed by a serious injury.
The 26-year-old, who is the reigning European 1,500m champion, tore her calf muscle halfway through the final at the Anniversary Games in London 10 weeks ago.
However, the Scot managed to go on and win the race and, despite being unable to train properly in the build-up to the tournament, is confident of picking up her first global outdoor medal in Saturday's 1,500m final in Doha, Qatar.
She said: "I'm happy with how things have gone. The calf is 100 per cent so I'm not worried about that at all.
"I can go into the competition being confident in that and my body, but it's not been the most ideal preparation over these past couple of months.
"To win a medal now, especially gold, would be an even bigger achievement than what it was a few months ago. That's definitely still on the table.
"Going into this year I said I wanted to win a medal in Doha. That's always been my target and I think I am still capable of doing that."
Muir did acknowledge, however, that her calf injury means she is coming into the World Championships short of race practice.
Ahead of Wednesday's heat, she said: "I'm lucky that it's not a one-off race. I have got the heats, I have got the semi, just to get back to the routine.
"I know I can usually put a good race out there straightaway. I'm not worried. When it happened I knew something wasn't quite right. I have quite a high pain threshold and thought, 'Well, we'll see how things go'.
"As I crossed the line I couldn't walk properly. We knew what it was straight away and we were on it straight away. We got ice on it and an MRI the next day.
"We knew what we were doing. Bad things happen but it is how you react that matters."
