Laura Muir recorded the second fastest time by a British woman over 800m as she beat compatriot Jemma Reekie at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
Muir’s time of one minute 56.73 seconds was just 0.52secs off Kelly Holmes’s British record set in 1995.
It was also the fastest 800m run by a European woman since 2008 – but the 28-year-old Scot will focus only on the 1500m at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
“Running 1:56 is giving me huge confidence for Tokyo,” she said.
“I will only be running the 1500m now, but I couldn’t have asked for a better performance ahead of Tokyo. I want to win a medal. That is all I am focusing on.
“I am going to go home tomorrow, have a week at home before flying out to Tokyo and just train as hard as I can, so I am in even better shape in Tokyo.”
While Muir fell just short of setting a new British record, she bettered Lynsey Sharp’s Scottish benchmark by 0.96secs. She now holds the Scottish records in the 800m, 1000m, 1500m and mile.
Reekie finished behind her training partner with a personal best of 1:56.96, putting her third on the all-time 800m list for a British woman. The 23-year-old will run in the 800m in Japan.
“Having a training partner like Jemma is huge,” Muir said. “Jemma has made me a much faster 800m runner.
“We push each other so much and we’ve both run 1:56, so I have definitely become faster because of her.”
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Bird set a British record with a personal best of 9:22.80 in the 3000m steeplechase, finishing seventh, just under 19 seconds behind Kenyan winner Hyvin Kiyeng.
A night of world-leading displays
Also in Monaco, world champion Timothy Cheruiyot won the men’s 1500m in a world-leading 3:28.28 after struggling at Kenya’s Olympic team trials in June.
The 25-year-old said he was “happy again” after injury and a family bereavement affected his performances.
He said: “I missed competition a lot after spending a lot of time in Kenya, where I had a few issues like my hamstring injury and after also losing a relative in my family on the day of the Kenyan trials, explaining why I missed out on making the team.”
There were also world-leading displays from 2012 Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos, who won the men’s 800m in 1:42.91; Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma, who clinched the men’s 3,000m steeplechase in 8:07.75; and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon, who prevailed in the the women’s 1500m in 3:51.07.
Elsewhere, Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo won the women’s 200m as Jamaican – and fastest woman alive – Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finished third.
Karsten Warholm followed his world record-setting performance last week in Oslo with another Diamond League win, clinching the men’s 400m hurdles in a meet record 47.08secs.
In the men’s 100m, Ronnie Baker upstaged a strong field to win in 9.91secs, with fellow American Trayvon Bromell finishing fifth in 10.01 after winning the US Olympic trials last month.
