A look at the three Scot medal hopefuls as Glasgow hosts indoor World Championships
The World Indoor Athletics Championships are coming to Glasgow’s Emirates Arena in Barrowfield begins this Friday and will run to Sunday with three Scottish athletes are set to compete.
Three Scottish athletes are set to compete for GB in front of a home crowd.
Edinburgh born middle distance runner Josh Kerr, long distance runner Laura Muir from Inverness, and Kilbarchan middle distance runner Jemma Reekie are planning to represent their nation.
All three are medal hopefuls and with the 2024 Olympics in Paris only six months away, good performances at the weekend will be a stepping stone to potential team GB Olympic qualification.
Here is a rundown of our Scottish runners ahead of Friday.
Josh Kerr
With an Olympic bronze from Tokyo 2020 and a gold at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Josh Kerr will be hoping he can continue to maintain his impressive success when he takes to the track this weekend.
Kerr has gone from strength to strength, at Tokyo he became the first British medalist in the 1500m at the Olympics for more than 30 years.
He has also broken former team GB gold medalist Mo Farah’s world record over two miles, completing it in just over eight minutes.
It’s all set up for Kerr to put on a show at the weekend and no doubt he will have his eyes on the gold prize.
Laura Muir
Laura Muir is a more than capable athlete.
She is a decorated runner, a silver medalist in Japan and gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Muir is also a record breaker, smashing records in the 800, 1000, 1500, 3000 and 5000m as well as setting the current British record for the 1500m in Tokyo putting her in the world all-time top 15.
She will be hoping that at the weekend she can do better than her sixth-place finish in Budapest, but with a home crowd and a wealth of experience, Muir can never be counted out.
Jemma Reekie
Reekie could be seen as unlucky not to have won a medal as of yet, missing out on a podium finish in the 800m at Tokyo by 0.9 seconds.
With gold medals at u20 and u23 levels, the 25-year-old has bags potential and has managed a solid fifth place in her last three races.
Reekie set a record time this year at the UK Indoor Athletics Championship and will be hoping to use this as a spring board for success at the weekend.
A great moment for Scottish Athletics
This weekend’s championship will be a marvelous advert for Scottish athletics and could foreshadow success for Scottish athletes at this year’s Olympics.
Former team GB Olympian and current sportswriter at the Herald, Susan Egelstaff, said: “It’s a huge thing having another major sporting event in Glasgow.
“Obviously, these world indoors have such as a high quality field and from a Scottish perspective it’s looking really exciting.
“For me, the real one I’m going to be looking out for is Josh Kerr because he’s been in great form, obviously last year becoming world champion and already this year having set a world record.
“He’s never the type of guy that shows up to make up the numbers.”
“Similarly Laura Muir is another very realistic gold medal chance, she’s been such a consistent championship medal winner in recent years.
“Jemma Reekie has never quite managed to win a championship medal yet and the perfect time for it would be to happen on home soil.”
