Laura Muir on her way to victory at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix (© Getty Images)
Laura Muir will look to rewrite the record books at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham when she contests the 1000m at the IAAF World Indoor Tour meeting on 18 February.
The 23-year-old will try to better the British indoor record of 2:32.96, which was set on the same track by Kelly Holmes in 2004, the year in which she went on to win two Olympic gold medals.
Other potential targets for Muir could be Holmes’ outright British record of 2:32.55, the European indoor record of 2:32.16, or even Maria Mutola’s world indoor record of 2:30.94.
Muir, who finished seventh in the 1500m at the Rio Olympic Games, broke Holmes’ British 1500m record in July with a time of 3:57.49 at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London. She went on to lower the record by another two seconds when winning at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris with a world-leading 3:55.22.
“The Muller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham is a great opportunity for me to have a competitive race and go for a British record, which would be a huge achievement,” said Muir. “Kelly Holmes was a big inspiration for so many British athletes, so to break another of her records would mean a lot to me and show that I’m progressing well. I’ll also have one eye on Maria Mutola’s world record; that will be tough but to be a world record-holder would be incredible.”
Muir was victorious the last time the Indoor Grand Prix was held in Birmingham, winning the 1500m in 4:05.32 against a world-class field, and is looking forward to returning to the Midlands for her first ever 1000m race.
“We don’t get the chance to run 1000m very often so it will be good to do something different, especially in front of a British crowd at such a great event.”
The Müller Indoor Grand Prix is a vital event for British athletes as they prepare for a year which will include two global championships in the UK: the IAAF World Championships London 2017 and the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018.
Organisers for the IAAF
2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour calendar
28 Jan – Boston, USA
1 Feb – Dusseldorf, GER
4 Feb – Karlsruhe, GER
10 Feb – Torun, POL
18 Feb – Birmingham, GBR
