Laura Muir breaks Scottish record on her way to Tokyo

The Milnathort athlete was part of a women’s 800m at the track meeting which was absolutely packed with quality from top to bottom.

But the 28-year-old proved she has her fitness levels exactly where she wants them as she led home a stunning Scottish 1-2 along with Jemma Reekie.

Muir’s 1:56.73 beat the previous Scottish record, with Reekie also inside the 1:57 too, finishingin a close second place in 1:56.96 as they saw off the challenges of America’s Kate Grace and Jamaica’s Natoya Goule in the closing stages.

The previous record was held by Lynsey Sharp who clocked 1:57.69 at the Olympics in Rio, a time which has stood for five years.

Muir now holds the top of the two-lap distance as well as other records over 1500m at British level.

A spokesman from Scottishathletics said: “Many congratulations to Laura, her family and coach Andy Young on a quite awesome performance in a race where the pace-maker didn’t deliver what was asked, 57 seconds, and Laura even had to switch lanes a couple of times on the closing lap.”

Muir was understandably delighted with her time in Monaco and believes she's hitting her stride at just the right point with the Olympics now just a couple of weeks away.

‘I just thought “just run as fast as you can, this is Monaco, I know I am in great shape,” she said.

“This was my last race before Tokyo, so I just wanted to give it my best and put on paper the sort of shape that I know I am in and I am just so happy with that.

"Having a training partner like Jemma is huge, Jemma has made me a much faster 800m runner.

"We push each other so much and we’ve both run 1:56, so I have definitely become faster because of her.

"I am going to go home have a week at home before flying out to Tokyo and just train as hard as I can, so I am in even better shape in Tokyo.

"I want to win a medal, that is all I am focusing on.”

Laura will race only at 1500m in Tokyo, but there’s no doubt a PB at 800m will give her another boost in that regard.

"Running 1:56 is giving me huge confidence for Tokyo,” she added.

"I will only be running the 1500m now, I decided that only a couple of days ago but, yes, I couldn’t have asked for a better performance ahead of the 1500 in Tokyo.

Muir is one of 12 Scottish athletes as part of team GB who are now preparing themselves for the sport’s grandest stage.

The games had been scheduled to have been held last year but had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

They are set to begin on Friday, July 23 and end on Sunday, August 8.

The athletics aren’t scheduled to start until a week after the opening ceremony, running from July 30 until August 8.

Muir’s 1500m race heats begin on August 2 with the event’s final set to be held on August 6.