Laura Muir poised to light up London after her sub two min run in Lausanne Diamond League

Laura Muir (coach: Andy Young) broke two minutes for the first time in her career over 800m at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting.

After a spell on the side-lines with a minor foot injury, Muir was in action for the first time since the end of May, and proved she is back to her best, if not better than ever before. It may come as a surprise to some, such have been the quality of Muir’s performances over the last couple of seasons, that her old best was 2.00.42 set two years ago.

Hanging off the electric early pace, Muir only made contact with the rest of the field as they approached the bell, with her fellow Scot Lynsey Sharp (Terrance Mahon) well placed. Down the back straight Muir started to make her move, passing athletes before attacking round the final bend. Into the straight they went with Muir in fifth place, and despite a ding-dong battle with Sharp, the 1500m specialist finished strongly to hold her position and cross the line in 1.58.69.

Muir, who competes over the mile at the Müller Anniversary Games on Sunday, said post-race:

“Muir is back! I’m emotional and just delighted to be here. You don’t realise the value of something until it is taken away from you. The last month has been difficult but I am gradually getting back. It was a very good field here tonight.

“I need to think about how I progress from now until London and after that. For the moment all I can say is Muir is back.”

Sharp also had a great race clocking a 1.58.80 run for seventh, a season’s best, marginally slower than her third place finish at this meeting last year.

Morgan Lake (Fuzz Caan) was in high jump action, fresh from her 1.96m personal best performance on Saturday in Birmingham. Continuing where she left off at Team Trials, the world junior high jump champion finished an impressive fourth thanks to a second time clearance at 1.93m. Competing as a neutral athlete Mariya Lasitskene set a new world lead, Diamond League record and Lausanne meet record with an outstanding 2.06m clearance to win by 13cm.

Eilidh Doyle (Brian Doyle) took advantage of the perfect conditions to produce her best run of the season, a 54.36 clocking from lane one for third place. Having won her fourth British title on Sunday, the Scot produced another quality performance to bag six Diamond Race points ensuring she’s in contention to make the Finals at the end of the season.

“I’m very happy – it was a good race for me. I was calm and focussed at the start and gained in confidence as the race progressed. I had a very satisfying performance at the British Trials and I’m happy I can carry that form onto the circuit.

“I am in a good state of mind heading to London. I want to be happy with what I do there, I don’t want any regrets. Let’s see how it unfolds.”

James Dasaolu (Lloyd Cowan) was in sprint action fresh from securing his place on the team for the IAAF World Championships London 2017, and he finished a very solid fifth in the men’s 100m. Crossing the line in 10.12 (+0.2m/s) Dasaolu was just one hundredth down on his season’s best set in the Team Trials final on Saturday.

Running from an extremely tight lane one, Bianca Williams (Lloyd Cowan) ran a strong race to finish seventh in a quality field. A late addition to the line-up, the Team Trials runner-up went quicker than she did in the final on Sunday, posting a 22.94 (-0.5) clocking, her third fastest of the year.

Ivana Spanovic was victorious in the women’s long jump, but there was a battle royal for the minor places, second to fifth separated by just seven centimetres. Unfortunately for Lorraine Ugen (Shawn Jackson) she was just edged out by her rivals, and ended up fifth with a best of 6.61m (-0.8), her best effort coming in the final round. Shara Proctor (Rana Reider) was back in action but retired from the competition after just two jumps.

In the under 20 women’s 1500m Jemma Reekie (Andy Young) and Amelia Quirk (Beverley Kitching) both ran well to finish second and third in 4.16.65 and 4.18.82 respectively.