LAURA MUIR is using 2026 as an “experiment year” after plumping for the 5,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games.

With new British 1,500m champion Sarah Calvert competing for Scotland in the mile event at Glasgow 2026 and Jemma Reekie aiming for an 800m and mile double, Muir has been selected for the longer distance.

The 33-year-old finished sixth in the 2017 World Championships 5,000m final and still holds the British indoor record that she set that year.

And she is returning to that distance after securing gold at 1,500m and silver at 800m in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, as well as winning Olympic and World medals at 1,500m.

“We were looking at 1,500 and the way the event’s going and the athletes racing there, and I just want to get as strong as possible with the endurance side,” Muir told the Press Association.

“We’ve got the World Championships, the Olympics in the next couple of years, so this is a little bit of an experiment year, trying out a few new things in training.

“Because I’m 1,500m Commonwealth champion already, we thought, try the 5k, try something a bit different.

“I ran the 5k at the World Championships in 2017, but then we went back to 1,500 and 800, so that was the focus for the years after that […]

“It’s challenging, it’s very different. You’ve got longer reps at a slower pace. The training is tough, it’s very different to the stuff I’ve done before. But it’s a challenge and I need to get faster. So it’s all a bit of an experiment but it’s nice to have a new challenge.”