Laura Muir hails strength of Scottish athletics with another record in her sights - BBC Sport
Laura Muir is thrilled by the strength of Scottish athletics as she bids to break another British indoor record next month.
Muir holds British indoor records over 5,000m and 3,000m as well as the best outdoor 1,500m time

As Laura Muir eyes another British and perhaps even a world record later this month, she believes Scottish athletics is in a stronger position than at any time she can recall. Muir, Callum Hawkins and Andrew Butchart all hit the headlines at the weekend with landmark runs. "We've had world-class athletes before but I don't think that many at one time," she told BBC Scotland. "We've got so many all competing at the top level of athletics." With Dame Kelly Holmes' British indoor 1,000m record next in her sights, Muir leads a strong Scottish pack towards this summer's World Championships, which will be held in London. "When I was younger I was aware of Eilidh [Child] and Lee [McConnell] and obviously Liz [McColgan] and Yvonne [Murray] a while ago," added the the 23-year-old. "I saw a tweet that we had so many world leads as well, just from Scottish athletes so it's great.

Muir celebrates winning the women's 1,500m at the Anniversary Games in London last summer

"We're in a really good place just now and I just hope youngsters can look up to us and we'll see even more in the future." Having just beaten the European 3,000m indoor record, she could take two more records down in her next outing at the British Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on 18 February. Holmes' best UK time over 1,000m, set in 2004, is only two seconds outside Maria Mutola's world record. "I never thought when I was younger that I'd be in the position to be going for a world record, so it's an exciting opportunity," she added. "It's going to be a great atmosphere, a great crowd, it's a fast track so everything's going for me to get it, I'm in great shape and it's just a matter of what happens on the day really."

Everything Muir does just now is gearing up for the World Championships, but she also views the European Indoors in Belgrade next month as a chance to achieve another personal first. "The Olympics and World Championships are always going to be the big competitions where you've got everybody from throughout the world but at the Europeans you've always got a lot of competition as well, there's a lot of fast girls in Europe," she said. "It's a good middle-ground as it were, it's a great championship and I'm just hoping I can go there and win my first senior medals."