Laura collects another award as focus turns to Olympics

Laura, from Milnathort, was named MG Alba Sportswoman of the Year

The local athlete’s victory comes in a year which has seen saw her leading the world rankings for 1500m, winning all three of her 1500m races in sub four-minute times.

Last month she was named joint winner of scottishathletic’s 4J Studios Performer of the Year award.

She was among four winners from the world of athletics and running on the night announced at the online event.

Like all sport, athletics has faced its challenges during the pandemic but Laura is delighted she was able to get some competitive running under her belt as she steps up her preparations for next summer’s Olympics in Tokyo.

She said: “We were so grateful that we could race given the circumstances so I guess we were wanting to make the most of every opportunity that we had.

“With athletics we were lucky that we could train to a certain level and compete too.

“I’m super chuffed with how the year went considering everything that was going on.

“We’ve been training in South Africa for a couple of weeks and have another couple of weeks yet.

“I’m working hard and training hard ahead of next year and hopefully doing well at the Olympics.

“It’s nice to have that little bit of sunshine and that little bit of heat.

“It means we can train better.

“Fingers crossed everything goes to plan and I’ll be in shape for next year.”

Laura’s form means she’ll head to the Olympics as one of the favourites to return with a medal.

But the Milnathort runner will be taking nothing for granted.

“The nature of professional sport is that you don’t know what’s ahead,” she said.

“You can be at the very top one minute and the very bottom the next.

“I’ve learned over the years to appreciate every moment, every win and every good race.

“I want to enjoy it as much as possible because you don’t know how long it’s going to last.

“But hopefully I have a few more years yet.”

For full details of the ceremony, visit www.scottishathletics.org.uk and www.scottishwomeninsport.co.uk