McColgan and Muir prepare for 5,000m final

By Sam Tonks

There’s a saying that ‘things run in the family’, most of the time it’s a good thing. For Britain’s Elish McColgan it certainly is, she’s emulating her mother Liz who ran in her first world championships 30 years ago.

It took a photo finish, but McColgan did progress into the 5,000m final automatically, whilst Laura Muir got a fastest loser place with a determined performance in her heat.

“I knew today would be tough, I was ranked seventh in the heat, so to get top five would be tough,” said McColgan.

“I feel it’s coming together at the right time, to have the crowd in the last 150m, I thought I can’t let them down.”

“I’m feeling fine, I just gave it my best shot,” said Muir.

“I came into this really positive, I’d put the 1500m behind me, I felt I recovered but my legs went so I’ll just have to get used to it.”

Muir endured a gruelling 1500m final on Monday, finishing fourth but is determined to go one better at least in the final on Sunday.

“It was hard to take, fourth is always difficult to take however it comes, I’ll just get on it more, I’ve not ran a 5k since January,” she explained.

From long to middle distances and it was three out of three for Team GB, as Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, Lynsey Sharp and Adelle Tracey advanced into the semi-finals.

“I was in a bad position, but I said don’t panic and dug in, I’m really happy” said Oskan-Clarke.

Former European champion Sharp comfortably claimed second in her heat and feels great ahead of her upcoming semi-final.

“This season’s been funny but I’m almost back to my best,” said Sharp.

“I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in, now I just have to execute it in a race.

They bid to make a home championships final tomorrow night in London Stadium.