A Diamond night in Rome

Friday 7th June 2019

It was a superb night in Rome last night for Scottish athletes, as Laura Muir and Andy Butchart both ran second best-ever times at a high quality Diamond League in the Stadio Olimpico.

After an early stumble, Muir powered through and put in a strong finish in the 1500m, but could not quite catch Dibaba in the closing straight. Nonetheless she crossed the line in 3:56.73, within reach of her own British record of 3:55.22.

She told Stuart Weir of Athletics Weekly: “I’m really happy. To run 3:56, it’s my second-fastest time ever, my fastest time in three years, so really pleased with that. Got a bit of a scrappy start but I just kept my cool. I almost had it at the end but not quite…. Really pleased with it, to be running that sort of time at this time of the season.”

Eilish McColgan, running in the 1500m with Muir, notched up a tremendous 4:02.29 finish for sixth place.

Butchart took a 13:09.33 finish in the 5000m, just shy of his own Scottish record of 13:08.61, set in Rio at the 2016 Olympics. It brought him an eighth place finish – a reflection of the quality of the field, in a race that saw six athletes going sub-13.

Read more:
Athletics Weekly round-up of the night
BBC Sport report

Tags: Andrew Butchart, Andy Butchart, Diamond League, Eilish McColgan, Laura Muir

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