Muller GP

By Peter Jardine M ondo Duplantis raised the bar. Jemma Reekie and Laura Muir raised the roof.

Indoor athletics often holds appeal in deep midwinter and seldom more so in the East End of Glasgow when #StormDennis started to deliver its menace with Biblical proportions on Saturday 15 February.

Inside the Emirates Arena, however, a sold out crowd was held in a thrall by some thrilling track and field action.

Duplantis supplanted his own World Record in a quite stunning pole vault competition; Reekie defied her position at the bell to come through and win a strong 1500m; and for Muir the second outing of a short indoor season gave satisfaction from ‘where I am at’ despite the disappointment at missing Maria Mutola’s WR mark for the 1000m.

Seven Scots in total were on the IAAF World Series stage and while the mixed fortunes with that number was almost inevitable, there’s a cogent argument for saying two victories and a third and a fourth (Guy Learmonth, Josh Kerr both in the 800m) represents well the recent progress for athletics in Scotland.

We’ve come to expect track magic from Muir, of course we have.

Five European titles and two World Indoor medals as well as a series of Scottish, British and European Records leads to that expectation.

Reekie coming towards her shoulder quite the way she has in 2020 is as exciting

Double act can conjure up track magic

for the sport as it has been surprising for those maybe not paying full attention to her development.

Already comparisons with the rivalry of Seb Coe and Steve Ovett are surfacing – Yvonne Murray and Liz McColgan possibly another example. There are maybe parallels with the Scottish men at 1500m, too.

But, whatever happens henceforth, it looks sure to be captivating.

‘We are not going to be avoiding it,’ said Laura, when asked about potential battles ahead.

‘We train the same. We are going to be doing the same races – well, same competition. So we are going to clash at some point, definitely.

‘I am stronger at the endurance stuff and Jemma is better at the speed stuff.’

Reekie’s presence had cranked up the noise levels that Saturday afternoon when the circular track action began with a bang.

The 21-year-old produced a great surge over the last 150m or so to win the 1500m in the final few strides in a time of 4.04.07 – as she edged out Ethiopian Dawit Seyaum, who clocked 4:04.24 with Rabada Arafi in third.

It was a new Scottish Native Record for Jemma, with the time eclipsing the 4:05.97 set by Muir at the Emirates a couple of years ago.

‘It was a good race and a good confidence boost,’ said Jemma.

‘I was close to the finish and I just thought ‘I cannot be second here in front of the home crowd – I have to win’. So it was good to do it and a great feeling to cross the live.

‘I’m 21 years old and loving every minute of it. I was here two years ago and got a good cheer off the crowd but the one I got this time was huge and I feel proud of myself for being able to deliver a victory.’

Laura for her part won the 1000m comfortably but couldn’t quite get close enough to the splits required mid race to really attack the World Record of 2:30.94 held by Mutola and clocked 2:33.47.

‘I just wanted to run as hard as I could even though from 600m or so it was looking difficult,’ said Laura, with the Polish pace-maker through the first 400m in 60.04, arguably a second down on where they needed to be even at that stage.

‘I think from where I am at, I am happy with that but I would have loved to have broken that world record. Almost but not quite - it would have been great to have done it here. It’s always a great atmosphere here.

‘That’s me done for the indoors. I’ll be back out training in the wind and rain tomorrow.’

Polish athlete Adam Kszczot took the win in the Men’s 800m in 1:46.34 with Learmonth running a Season’s Best for third in 1:47.16. Kerr wasn’t far behind in an indoor PB as he took fourth in a photo finish in 1:47.40.

‘I feel good, I did exactly what I wanted to do and ran it as true as I could,’ said Guy.

‘It’s a big step in the right direction and I can’t complain too much. That’s one of my highest place finishes at the Grand Prix events so it’s another big boost.’

Nikki Manson was seventh in the high jump with 1.82m as the Giffnock athlete went close with her second attempt at 1.86m.

Heather Paton was sixth in her 60m Hurdles heat with a run of 8.38 seconds, which was only four hundredths away from her own Native Record, set in the Emirates Arena a couple of years ago. But it was not quite enough to progress. Adam Thomas clocked 6.76 in a very competitive second heat of the Men’s 60m.

By the time each or any one of these seven Scots return to competition at the Emirates Arena, after the Olympics and European Championships in Paris, so much more will be apparent about their status

Giant leap for mankind

Sweden’s pole vault sensation Mondo Duplantis smashed his own World Record with an astonishing jump of 6.18m.

It gave him a bonus payment of $30,000 to add to his win in the men’s pole vault final on what was a stellar day of athletics at the Müller GP in the Emirates Arena.

And, by the time he’d received the cheque, it was difficult to tell if Mondo belonged to Glasgow or Glasgow belonged to Mondo – such was his rapport with an excited crowd.

‘I can tell you – I would not have cleared the heights I did today without being able to feed off the energy coming from the stands,’ he told event in-field commentator, Iwan Thomas.

Fresh from clearing 6.17m in Torun the previous week, man of the moment Duplantis arrived in Glasgow looking for the victory and to try and better his own record.

Having sailed clear at 6.01m, the Swede turned on the style to break his own world indoor record with room to spare, sending the Glasgow crowd into raptures.

It was a first World Record witnessed by a Scottish crowd since 2006 when a Russian team achieved the women’s 4 x 400m mark.

‘It just feels so good,’ said Duplantis, after a competition which captivated throughout.

‘I felt like I was over it and once I was going over, I knew I had it. You can’t tell how far away you are from the bar, but it felt like a good jump from the get go. I tried a stiffer pole and it worked out.

‘It’s the best little split second. Everything builds up to that little split second and the freefall was magical.

‘It’s unfair to think I’ll break it every time I compete. I don’t think about it too much. You don’t need to break a record to win every comp.

‘I want to win and that’s always the goal but firstly you’ve got to win and if I have the energy left then I’ll crank it up a bit.” American Sam Kendricks cleared a best of

Photos by Bobby Gavin

5.75m as he took second position, with

Belgium’s Ben Broeders setting a Belgian