‘Planning was tough but Birmingham 2022 double bid was late call’ – Andy

Wednesday 31st August 2022

Laura Muir and Andy Young in Oregon after bronze success at World Champs

Coach Andy Young has revealed the planning challenges faced as Laura Muir embarked on a three championship medal bid which ultimately delivered four visits to the podium.

But the Commonwealth Games double over 800m and 1500m was a late decision and one taken by the athlete herself in between Oregon and Birmingham.

Olympic medallist Muir will end the summer with 12 major individual medals to her name with four of those seized this season.

In fact, it is now five-in-a-row in terms of finals and medals dating back to the Olympic silver over 1500m in Japan last August followed by:

*Bronze in 1500m at the World Champs in Oregon

*Bronze in 800m at the Commonwealths in Birmingham

*Gold in 1500m at the Commonwealths in Birmingham

*Gold in 1500m at the Europeans in Munich

We spoke to coach Andy about Laura’s remarkable summer . . .

‘It’s pretty special and had never been done before. No Scot has ever won gold at the Europeans and the Commonwealths in the same year before so that is another huge achievement.

‘And then you add in a 3.55 run for 1500m bronze at the Worlds and ‘history-making’ seems to fall a little short to describe it, to be honest.

‘Coaches have never before faced the issue of three major championships in just under six weeks.

But when your athlete comes to you and says ‘I want to do all three’ then you have to address it.

‘You have to look at the factors and seek to peak at those different points in the season.

‘As it happened, it was do-able. The way we train there is an intensity to it which should mean that a high level of performance is possible at almost any point of the year.

The Laura Lunge . . . THAT dive for the line to seize bronze in the 800m at Birmingham 2022 (photo by Bobby Gavin)

‘The Worlds was possibly the hardest one to see if Laura could be ready for then. The recovery from injury was a concern.

‘So, certainly, the planning was pretty different this year from any other we’ve known.

‘Having said that, the double at the Commonwealth was not in the initial plan. Even four weeks prior to Birmingham I was saying it would only be the 1500m and we had to plan for three championships.

‘But then the semi-final round was taken out of the Women’s 800m at the Commonwealths and we began to assess it. She had come out of Oregon in great shape and things start to line up a little bit.

‘Laura trains hard so it really came down to would she do a hard session in training or do a hard session via an 800m race. The decision was Laura’s and she fancied it.’

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Tags: Andy Young, coaching, Laura Muir