Great Britain’s Laura Muir, the Olympic 1500m silver medalist and three-time 1500m world championship medalist, will return to the 116th Millrose Games at The Armory on Feb. 11 to defend her NYRR Wanamaker Mile title.

In this conversation, Laura and I look back at her 2023 season – which was a bit turbulent at times since she parted ways with her longtime coach Andy Young, coached herself briefly and is now working with Steve Vernon. Despite the sudden changes, she still managed to run a season’s best of 3:55.16 for the 1500m and managed to make the World Championship final in Budapest, where she finished sixth. One highlight was running 4:15 for the mile in Monaco for a British record.

While we look back at last year, we also look ahead to 2024 where she plans to run the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in March and then go all-in toward getting back on the podium in Paris.

Host: Chris Chavez

Guest: Laura Muir

CITIUS MAG caught up with Muir ahead of her Millrose Games announcement to reflect on 2023 and look ahead toward the Summer Olympics. The following interview excerpt has been edited lightly for clarity.

CITIUS MAG: What's got you most excited about kicking off 2024 at the Armory?

Laura Muir: I’m really excited to head back to the big city. I have lots of fond memories of competing there both indoors and on the roads. Last year it was such an amazing competition – the atmosphere, how close the crowd can get. I love the intimacy of indoor meets, but that was something else. And it's got a nice trophy too. It’s a really good spot to win a race.

CITIUS MAG: The goal is to peak in the summer at the Paris Olympics. What is the important thing to get done at a race like the Millrose Games?

Laura Muir: We're keeping indoor season this year pretty short and sweet. I'm going to be targeting the 3K at World Indoors, so the mile is just a shorter distance to test my speed and get the legs moving a little bit. It’s a nice race to have a few weeks ahead of World Indoors. It’s a nice bit of fun – no pressure, just go and see where we're at and if there's anything we tweak ahead of Glasgow. I think it’s just about enjoying the races and I’ve enjoyed it.

CITIUS MAG: Was it an easy decision to put World Indoors on the calendar for you?

Laura Muir: I was originally thinking I might not do it, but then we found out that the 3K is a straight final on Saturday (of the meet). It fits well because I'll be doing a big endurance block at that point anyway. And then with it being a straight final on Saturday, I usually do sessions on Saturdays anyway, so I'm just subbing out a session for a World Championship final. It just means it won’t disrupt my week. It's ten minutes away from my house, so it's pretty easy in terms of travel as well. The past couple of World Indoors that I've missed have been further afield, so it’s easy being at home.

It needs to fit because Paris is important. It’s the biggest thing this year. But for me, it fits with my plans in terms of the logistics and training and the schedule. I've got the qualifying time, but I'm not going to be at the British Championships – but hopefully I'll be there and hopefully I'll do well in front of a home crowd.

CITIUS MAG: It’s been almost a year since you parted ways with your long-time coach of 12 years, Andy Young. I remember in the lead-up to Budapest, you described 2023 as pretty “turbulent”. Now that you’ve had time to reflect, how hard was that? At what point did you start to feel like things were clicking again?

Laura Muir: It was tough because I originally decided to self-coach myself for the first couple of months because I didn't want to jump into any particular training program or any particular coach with Paris and World Indoors this year. I wanted to make sure the setup that I had was the right setup. I didn't want to go into something really quickly and then look back at it and think, “Maybe that wasn't the right decision,” so I took a couple of months to make that decision.

It was really difficult trying to manage myself as an athlete since it wasn’t something I’d done before. But it was the right thing to do.

I'm really happy now with my new coach, Steve (Vernon). He's been fantastic. We've got into a really good routine with training and the results we've been getting have been exciting. It was a difficult process, but one that I think I dealt with as well as I could. But everything's in place now for me to hopefully be as successful as possible this year. I’m really excited and looking forward to seeing what I can do.

CITIUS MAG: I'm sure when that unexpected change happened, at first panic settled in, but then eventually you found happiness. What brought that back for you?

Laura Muir: It was just knowing that there were things we could change going forward and that I have a lot of potential. I think it's just being settled and feeling supported in the right way, which I feel now. Sometimes you just get to that point where you have a little light bulb moment and you think, “This has got to change, that's it.” So I made those changes – and they were difficult changes – but I’m really happy now that I made those decisions. I’m in a good spot heading into the Olympic year which is a good place to be.

CITIUS MAG: Without giving away too many major secrets, what does “new stuff” look like for you? You’re someone who thrives off of the analytics and data in practice. What are you doing that's different from previous seasons and how has your training evolved?

Laura Muir: I'm in the gym twice as often as I used to be. I’m doing stuff specifically tailored to my weaknesses to avoid injuries and making those things a lot more efficient and stronger. I've been doing a lot of threshold stuff as well, which I never did before. Literally everything I used to do is run as fast as you can for as long as you can. And that was it. Whereas now we're doing some threshold stuff.

I feel like I'm getting a lot more out of myself and my aerobic capacity is getting so much better. It’s a bit of an odd process – run slower to get faster. I think Steve was tearing his hair out at the start because I was like, “I can go faster,” and he was like, “Yeah, but that's not the point.” I'm learning and am a lot better. It was hard to do at the start, but I seem to be responding really well to it. And my aerobic base is so much better, which I think will help in terms of my endurance. There have been lots of changes, but it's been exciting.

CITIUS MAG: How do you go about planning for the year in terms of staggering your training and your peaks?

Laura Muir: That's why Glasgow fits so well, because it’s a straight final. We don't have to contest rounds. It's on a Saturday, which is a normal session day, there’s no travel involved, and I don’t have to miss days of training in terms of logistics. It's tricky trying to run through stuff because you want to peak at the big champs, but at the same time, you still want to run well on the circuit. You might have to cherry-pick two or three that you want to get a really fast time at and then there might be another two that you have to train through a bit more because we want to be in the best place in Paris.

If you taper for every single race, you're going to lose a bit of fitness and you're not going to be where you want to be when it matters. It's about having the right expectations for races. Don't get me wrong, I've trained really hard through some races and they’ve still gone really well. It's just trying to get that balance right of easing up a little bit, but not too much that it takes away from your training for when it really matters. It's about prioritizing what you want from each race and where it fits in with the major championships.

CITIUS MAG: How do you beat Faith Kipyegon with how dominant she is right now?

Laura Muir: I think it helps that I’ve beaten her two or three times a few years ago. So I’ve done it, but not for a long time and never in a championship setting. But it's possible. There are lots of ways that I can improve this year, so it’s nice to know I can get faster and that we haven’t maxed out everything. But it seems to be that when I get faster, she then also gets faster. I was narrowing the gap a little bit when I ran 3:54 in Tokyo, but then she widened it again.

All I can do is focus on myself and just be the best athlete I can be. And if that gets closer to her, and potentially a tiny chance of beating her, then that's all I can do. She's the best we've ever had. She’s a phenomenal athlete and deserves all the recognition she's had. It’s exciting to be a part of, but it's difficult to try and keep up.

CITIUS MAG: In 2023 you were in all three of her world record races. What is your approach going into races knowing it's going to be fast? The coolest moment was at the Monaco Diamond League and just seeing how many national records and personal bests fell in that race. What is it about Faith that lifts the rest of the competition?

Laura Muir: We just knew that if she's going for it, she's going for it. There's no messing around. She's here to run as fast as she can, which is great because we all want to do that as well. It was great to be a part of that… It was amazing to see her do that and be able to celebrate with her afterward as well. It was a really special moment and it was so nice for us all to be there for it.

I remember going to Monaco and thinking, “I have to run my own race, I can't go with that.” As much as I like to believe in myself, that was beyond my capability. I knew I had to run my own race. I wanted to get the British record and by running my own race, I got that record. So I was pleased with that.

CITIUS MAG: How attentive are you to the legacy that you've written for yourself within British Athletics? I guess the global championship gold is still out there as a goal – but what else do you want to try and accomplish within your career?

Laura Muir: When I started making senior teams, I thought, “I want to compete at all six championships.” I did that and then was like, “I want to make a final in all six championships.” I did that and then said, “I want to win a medal at all six championships” and I have done that. I've defended titles, I've broken records and championship records. The only thing that's missing is the global title, which is very hard to get…

But I'm going to keep trying and that's all I can do. All I can do is focus on myself and work as hard as I can and get myself in the best shape I can. If that's enough to get on the podium, great. If that's enough to win, even better. I just love running, I love my training, and I feel very privileged to be in this position to be successful in the sport. I have gotten so much from it. I hope that I can continue for a few more years and get a few more medals as well.

CITIUS MAG: What's got you most excited about athletics in 2024?

Laura Muir: Building off the success of Budapest. It was an amazing championship and it did a really good job of elevating the sport. World Indoors is going to be exciting. It's a great atmosphere in Glasgow. I think that it’ll be an amazing championship and will hopefully get everybody geared up for the Olympics as well…Hopefully, we can keep the positive cycle going and elevate the sport as much as we can.

Previously announced Millrose Games stars:

– 1500m world champion Josh Kerr to run the men’s two-mile

– World champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh to high jump

– U.S. mile record holder Yared Nuguse to defend his Wanamaker Mile title

– U.S. 5000m and 10,0000m record holder Grant Fisher joins the men’s two-mile field

– World record holder Christian Coleman set for showdown vs. Andre De Grasse over 60m