Laura Muir has won silver in the women’s 1500m final.
The Scottish runner claimed a long-awaited Olympic medal in a race won by the defending champion, Kenyan Faith Kipyegon. Dutch runner Sifan Hassan came third.
The result will help to ease Muir’s memories of the 1500m at the Rio Olympics, when she faltered in the final 200m and slipped from third place to seventh. She tweeted: ‘OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST!! Honestly speechless right now, thank you so much for all the support’.
At the very beginning of the race, Muir settled at the back of the pack as Gabriela DeBues-Stafford led in front. But by the 50 second mark, Hassan, Muir and Kipyegon had all taken over at the front. Muir later slipped back a place, but Hassan and Kipyegon were keen to set a fast pace. And fast it was, at just 1:51 with two laps to beau.
As the runners rounded into the home straight, it was a three horse race, as DeBues-Stafford fell behind. Kipyegon began a furious kick away and quickly pulled ahead as Hassan and Muir battled it out for silver, with the latter ultimately victorious.
The race was a convincing race for Kipyegon, the reigning champion who BBC commentator Steve Cram described as ‘perhaps the greatest 1500m runner we’ve seen.’ Hassan meanwhile was denied her chance at winning a remarkable trio of middle distance gold medals in the 1500m, 5,000m and 10,000m, having already won gold in the 5,000m.
