European Indoor Championships: Laura Muir dodges jobsworth to do lap of honour with Union Jack after Richard Kilty wins 60 metres gold at European Indoors


LAURA MUIR could not be stopped even when a jobsworth official tried to halt her lap of honour after winning 1500 metres gold.

And today Muir bids to become only the second woman ever to win the European Indoors distance double in the 3,000m.

Laura Muir finally did get her lap of honour after breaking Kelly Holmes' British record and Doina Melinte's European record
Laura Muir finally did get her lap of honour after breaking Doina Melinte’s 32-year-old European record
Getty Images

There was also gold for defending 60m champion Richard Kilty who clocked 6.54 seconds — the fastest in Europe this year — despite a few nervy moments when  fellow Brit Andrew Robertson was disqualified for a false start.


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But it was Muir who stole the show, running from the front for six laps to win in a championship record of 4min 2.39sec — smashing the 32-year-old mark of 4:02:54 set by Romanian Doina Melinte.

The official who tried to stop her lap of honour got short shrift, too, as the Scot celebrated her first senior medal.

Trainee vet Muir, 23,  who is expected to become the poster girl for this summer’s  World Championships in London, admitted: “It’s been a long time coming, but now I’ve got a medal I’m so happy.

“I was quite relaxed because I knew I was stronger than a lot of the girls. I put the welly in and came away with the win.

“I had to fight for the lap of honour. The lady was saying, ‘We don’t have time’ but I thought, ‘It’s my first medal, I’m not going to lose out on my lap of honour’.

Laura Muir wanted to run a lap of honour after winning 1500m gold for Great Britain
Laura Muir wanted to run a lap of honour after winning 1500m gold for Great Britain
BBC
Laura Muir started walking away from the action but quickly turned around and escaped the trackside official's clutches
Laura Muir started walking away from the action but quickly turned around and escaped the trackside official's clutches
BBC
Laura Muir proved she's an international athlete of the highest calibre as she escaped the jobsworth's clutches and sprinted around the track
Laura Muir proved she's an international athlete of the highest calibre as she escaped the jobsworth's clutches and sprinted around the track
BBC
Laura Muir crosses the line to win the 1500m at the European Indoor Championships
Laura Muir crosses the line to win the 1500m at the European Indoor Championships
Reuters
Laura Muir celebrates with her medal on the podium at the European Indoors
Laura Muir celebrates with her medal on the podium at the European Indoors
EPA
Britain's Richard Kilty win the 60 metres at the European Indoor Championships
Britain's Richard Kilty win the 60 metres at the European Indoor Championships
Getty Images

“I won and I’m going. I got it in the end!

“Hopefully this is a watershed moment —  I’d love to come away with double gold.”

Muir is bidding to match the feat of Poland’s Lidia Chojecka, who won the 1500m and 3,000m in Birmingham ten years ago.

Kilty, 27, who also won the 60m world title in 2014, clinched Britain’s third gold — adding to  Andy Pozzi’s success in Friday’s 60m hurdles. But he has false-started FIVE times in just over two years — including at last month’s Euro trials.

Richard Kilty celebrates winning European 60m gold in Belgrade
Richard Kilty celebrates winning European 60m gold in Belgrade
AP:Associated Press

Selectors gave him a discretionary place for Belgrade and he delivered the goods.

Kilty is pals with sprinters James Ellington and Nigel Levine, who were injured in a bike smash in Tenerife in January.

He said: “I spoke to James on the phone and said I was going to do it. This is for a few people — but especially for  them.”


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