Laura urges young athletes to stick with it

Laura was ninth in the Scottish Schools XC at Irvine in 2008 to miss out on selection for the SIAB International Match and, around that time, found herself being lapped in the 1500m at the old Kelvin Hall.

It was all part of the learning experience, though, for the now five-times European champion (four indoors over 1500m/3000m and the 1500m in Berlin in 2018), who was at Kinross High School at the time.

With the Scottish Schools XC having taken place last weekend at Hopetoun House, Laura spoke to scottishathletics, at the Emirates following her historic double double.

“I competed in the Scottish Schools cross country and the track and field champs a number of times,” said Laura.

“I remember well racing the cross country in Irvine and battling the wind and the hills. Indoors, at the Scottish Schools track and field,

“I am sure I was lapped in one championship at 1500m.

“At Irvine, I came ninth a couple of years in a row and only the top eight were being picked for the Scottish Schools team for the SIAB International down south – I was gutted.

“You know that no matter how well you do, there is always room for improvement.

“If you can stick with it then hopefully there’s more things can come your way later in your athletics career.

“Your time will come, guys.

“The only thing you can do is enjoy it, work hard, train hard and then hopefully the improvement comes and the PBs come along, too.

“That’s what happened to me.

“I wasn’t anything special in my mid-teens and look where I am now.”

At the recent European Indoors in Glasgow, Laura retained the 1500m and 3000m titles she had won in Belgrade two years before and won national headlines.