Tokyo Olympics: Laura Muir reaches 1500m final after easily progressing with second place finish

Laura Muir safely navigated the semi-finals of the 1500m with a comfortable second place to keep alive her hopes of landing a first Olympic medal.

After finishing in the top five of her semi-final, the Scottish athlete easily secured her place in the final with a time of 4:00.73, only being pipped to victory by the Dutch star Sifan Hassan who has already taken a gold medal in the 5000m in Tokyo.

However it was disaster for Muir’s British team-mate Katie Snowden, who in placing ninth in the much quicker first semi-final saw her medal hopes come to a premature end.

Muir’s run would have only been good enough to progress as a fastest loser in the first semi-final where Snowden ran a 4:02.93.

But Muir looked comfortable throughout and will take heart from running in strong competition with Hassan who is favourite to take the gold medal and only stole the lead deep into the final straight.

Muir admitted after the race that having watched the first semi-final, she had to try and secure her qualification as a top five finisher to be sure of progress and a chance to claim a medal on Friday. 

I’m really good, I knew watching the first semi it was quick. The fastest losers looked very tight so I didn’t want to risk anything,’ she told the BBC.

There was more drama in the first semi-final with Cory McGee of the United States suffering from a fall after a tangle with Winny Chebet of Kenya which ended her medal hopes after only recovering to 11th.

Her team-mate Elle Purrier St. Pierre though had better luck in progressing as one of the fastest losers with a time of 4:01.00.

Meanwhile Australia’s Jessica Hull and Linden Hall both progressed in the respective semi-finals.