Muir’s performance at Glasgow 2014 did little to change any of this. She departed those Commonwealth Games empty-handed and having been in contention coming into the home straight of the 1500m final but was clipped from behind with 100m to go and ended up finishing outside of the top 10.
12 years on, 33-year-old Muir from Milnathort heads into her second Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as a titan of women’s middle-distance running.
Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth silverware now reside in her trophy cabinet and having been one of the planet’s best middle-distance runners for almost a decade, Muir admits the transformation in the past 12 yeas has surprised even herself. And the stellar career she built puts her in the enviable position of going into Glasgow 2026 with almost no pressure upon her shoulders.
“It is quite surreal to compare me then and now,” she says.
“I literally had no medals at the 2014 Games in Glasgow and now I’ve now got everything, and I’ve been Commonwealth champion as well. I’m coming back in a very, very different capacity to what I was in 2014 so I’m really proud of myself and of everything that I’ve achieved, on and off the track, in that time.
“A lot’s changed, but a lot has stayed the same as well. I was still studying as a vet back then but I still just love the sport for what it is, and that’s always been my motivation and passion to keep doing it. So it’s really nice to come back and enjoy this championships, because I feel like I’ve got nothing to prove. I can just go out there and just really soak up the atmosphere, enjoy it and just hopefully be a support to the rest of the team as well.”
Laura Muir has been on the international stage for over a decade (Image: Supplied)
The is one particularly signifiant change for Muir at Glasgow 2026. At Scotstoun Stadium this week, she will race the 5000m rather than the 1500m, with the shorter distance the one in which she has achieved the majority of her major championship success.
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The move up the distances is only temporary – she will drop back down to the 1500m at next month’s European Championships – but the change of event has allowed Muir to confront the challenge of learning a new event and undertake a different training regime, which, she says, has been enjoyable as well as physically taxing. And her relative inexperience over 5000m, on th global stage at least, makes it considerably more difficult to set herself a target for Glasgow 2026 in the same way she would have had she been running her customary shorter distance of 1500m.
“Doing the 5k training, I’m doing longer reps on the track and it’s a little bit of a slower pace but it’s still fast and you’re running further, so it’s very hard,” she says.
“I have to admit, I’ve found the training tough but I’ve tried to go at it as best I can.
“I’ve had to learn a little bit how I have to push in some areas and hold back in others so I’m still learning a lot, which is exciting at my age.
“I’m still not 100 percent sure how I’ll race it, because it’s very new. I’ve not run very many 5000m so, every time I run one, it’s a new experience for me.
“The 5000m is a hard event because it’s just such a hot pace for a long period of time. So, I’m not really sure what to expect. I’m just going to run hard and hope for the best.”
That Muir is in Glasgow this week, and is fully fit, is encouraging on several fronts. An injury-hit 2025 season saw her end the year with disappointing – by her standards – results and left many wondering if we’d seen the best of Laura Muir. But having shaken-off her injuries and having had a solid winter behind her, Muir is relishing having rediscovered her fitness.
“A lot of athletes will have had a year like I had last year, or maybe two or three or even more, whereas that was my first,” she says.
“So, given I’ve been at this level for 13 years now, it just gave me an awful lot of gratitude for all the years I have had when I’ve been healthy. I did learn a lot from it, but it was tough and it was stressful,. And I still made it to the World Championships.
“The injury was quite a rogue one, so it’s not like we could have really done too much about it in the first place. But we tweaked a few little bits and pieces (in training), and touch wood, it’s been okay so far.
“More than anything, it was good to get the perspective I got from knowing I’ve been so lucky to be strong for so long. So I’m just grateful to be running pain-free.”
