Fearless Laura Muir is up against it in 1500m final - but won't go down without a fight

Faith Kipyegon leads the way as the Kenyan looks to make history. After golds at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 the world record holder is bidding to become the first woman to win three Olympic titles in the same track event.

Kipyegon, who won silver in the 5000m on Monday after being disqualified for jostling then reinstated, has not lost a 1500m for three years and broke her own 1500m world record by seven hundredths of a second in the Diamond League meeting in Paris last month at the nearby Stade Sébastien Charléty.

She’s not the only one blocking Muir’s path to a second Olympic podium finish. Australia’s Jessica Hull and Ethiopian pair Gudaf Tsegay and Diribe Welteji have all run faster than the Scot this season.

But at 31 Muir is one of the most experienced runners in the field. This is her third consecutive Olympic final and her eighth successive global 1500m final. It’s a remarkable level of consistency and she is desperate to add to the silver medal she won at the Tokyo Games.

Lee McConnell, herself a three-time Olympian, trained alongside Muir and saw close up just how dedicated the Perthshire runner was. But she also recognises the calibre of her rivals and likens Muir's career to that of Andy Murray in terms of how they both reached the top amid an almost unprecedented glut of talent in their respective sports.  

“I think Laura is an incredible athlete, she’s one of my favourite athletes to watch,” said McConnell who won 12 major championships medals before retiring in 2014. “She’s just so gutsy, she works hard. I remember Laura from when I was training and, my God, the work that she puts in was phenomenal. She often trained at the Kelvin Hall and I’d watch her and was inspired by how much effort she put in.

“She split from her coach last year and that can be a really hard time because when you have success, changing coaches is a really difficult thing to do because it puts doubts in your mind. You wonder if this coach will be able to do what you want to do.

“But at the Diamond League in London she ran the fastest time she’s ever run so there’s no question she’s in good shape and it’ll be great to see what she can do at these Olympics. That silver medal last time round was amazing and she’s got lots of medals to her name but she’s still hungry for more.

“I think Laura’s era in the 1500 metres has been a little bit like Andy Murray’s. In the tennis, you’ve got Federer and Nadal and Djokovic all coming along at once. It’s the same in the 1500m but Laura is still in it every single time, picking up medals, winning Diamond Leagues, taking the races to them. She’s not scared of these girls, she’s raced them numerous times, she knows what they can do and like any 1500m race a lot of it is going to come down to tactics and you’d never bet against Laura coming home with another medal because you know she’ll leave everything on that track.”