Laura Muir cannot wait for Birmingham Games

The Olympic 1500 metre silver medallist is facing a hectic schedule next year with the Games, which take place between July 28 and August 8, sandwiched between the World and European Championships.

Muir is expected to compete at all three but will prioritise Birmingham 2022 after admitting she has a “point to prove” at the Commonwealths.

The 28-year-old finished 11th in the 1500m at Glasgow 2014 and then missed out on the Games altogether four years later, as she was sitting her veterinary exams.

She said: “It is a really busy year but for me, emotionally, the Commonwealth Games means the most.

“You only get to compete in them every four years and it is the only championships where I get to represent Scotland so it means a lot.

“I had to miss the last Commonwealth’s with my exams and things didn’t go too well for me in 2014.

“Maybe it is more unfinished business with these Games. Missing out on the last two I would love to come to Birmingham and win my first Commonwealth medal.”

Muir’s announcement will come as a huge boost to the Birmingham 2022 organisers, who have deliberately scheduled track and field events toward the end of the Games in the hope athletes will choose to include it in their packed calendar.

Double paralympic gold medallist Kadeena Cox, who will race in the T38 100 metres, is another who has confirmed her intention to compete. Both she and Muir were yesterday given a tour of the Alexander Stadium, which will host the athletics events and is currently undergoing a £72million upgrade ahead of the Games.

The first track and field events are scheduled to take place on August 2, just over a week after the conclusion of the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The European Championships, which take place in Munich, start on August 15.

“It is definitely possible to do all three,” said Muir. “It is just going to be a case of working it out logistically, which events work at which championships.

“Obviously we will have the world championships which is global but in terms of emotions, the Commonwealths is most important for me.

“I would love to go and perform well at both and hopefully still be in one piece to do well at the Europeans.”

Birmingham 2022 will feature more para-sports than any previous Games and Cox, who missed out on competing on the Gold Coast in 2018 due to injury, is also eager to make up for lost time.

“I think I’ve got a bit of unfinished business myself having not competed at a Commonwealth Games yet,” she said.

“It is nice to be at a Games with the able-bodied athletes. Just to be seen as athletes. There is no para, it is just the Games and a level-playing field. That for me is really special and the point where discrimination starts to fade away.

“I cannot wait. It is going to be something different. Not many people get the opportunity to compete at a home Games.

“I know how amazing London was, how incredible that atmosphere was. That is what made me want to get into para-sport. I am so excited to see what Birmingham is going to have in store for us.”