[ad_1]
| Hosts: Birmingham Dates: 28 July to 8 August |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV with extra streams on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport mobile app; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and Sports Extra; live text and clips online. |
Scotland’s Laura Muir won the Commonwealth 1500m crown with a remorseless display that ground her rivals to dust in her wake.
The 29-year-old wound up the pressure with 500m to go and, despite the best efforts of Northern Ireland’s Ciara Mageean, no-one could live with her.
Muir finished in four minutes 2.76 seconds to add to her 800m bronze and win Scotland’s 12th title of the Games.
Team-mate Eilish McColgan claimed silver with a gutsy run in the 5,000m.
McColgan, who won the 10,000m title on Wednesday, found herself with the Kenyan pair of Beatrice Chebet and Selah Busienei for company in the closing stages.
The 31-year-old fought hard for track position amid the spikes and elbows, but had no answer when the diminutive Chebet made a startling burst 200m from home.
World silver medallist Chebet claimed victory in 14:38.21 – nearly four seconds clear of McColgan.
“It was such a high and it honestly has been so overwhelming,” McColgan, speaking to BBC Sport, said of her 10,000m victory.
“There’s been so many athletes and staff from all nations telling me that they watched me, cheering me on and now every time I go to the dining room I’m just crying.
“I’m so tired mentally and physically but I’m so proud of myself.
“We saw Laura [Muir’s race] in the call room – it just spurred me on hearing the crowd cheering for her in the last 200m – and I felt it too today.”
Jemma Reekie, Muir’s training partner, friend and some-time flat-mate, could not join her on the 1500m podium. She finished fifth, but was first to congratulate her team-mate on her victory.
Instead Mageean and Australia’s Abbey Caldwell collected medals alongside Muir, who now has another high point in a stellar 12 months.
A year and a day ago, she landed Olympic silver in Tokyo after a succession of near-misses in major finals.
Last month, she followed up with bronze at the World Championships in Eugene.
Just yesterday, she came third in a slug-fest of an 800m final.
But Commonwealth gold scratches a particular itch – Muir missed Gold Coast 2018 to take her veterinary exams and finished 11th in Glasgow 2014 after being clipped in the final.
“You learn from it and your time will come,” she told BBC Sport.
“It sounds cheesy but it’s true. Eight years of Commonwealths and it’s been bugging me so this means a lot.”
Muir’s year is not over yet either – in a little over a week in Munich, she will attempt to defend the European title that she won in Berlin four years ago.
Scotland’s haul of gold medals at this Commonwealth Games now eclipses their total at every Games, bar Glasgow 2014.
Pattison wins 800m bronze to underline potential
In the 800m final that followed Muir’s victory at the Alexander Stadium, England’s Ben Pattison underlined his potential by taking bronze in a high-class field.
The 20-year-old finished third in 1:48.25, as Kenya’s Wycliffe Kinyamal defended his title under pressure from Australia’s Peter Bol.
Max Burgin, another English prospect and the fastest man in the world this year, missed the Commonwealth and World Championships after picking up a deep vein thrombosis on his way to Oregon.
[ad_2]
Source link
