Laura Muir’s record run shows she is ready to follow Mo Farah

Moments after Laura Muir missed out on the 1,000m world record she tumbled to the track, closed her eyes and began swallowing huge gulps of oxygen.

But the pain quickly subsided when she gazed at the scoreboard, which showed the results of her desperate exertions: yet another British and European record in what has been an extraordinary winter of content.

Muir was the warm-up act to Mo Farah’s final indoor race of his career, and the double Olympic champion left the Birmingham crowd happy as he dipped under his British indoor 5,000m record, without ever looking quite at his smoothest or sharpest.

Muir’s performance showed again that, when Farah swaps the track for the road at the end of this year, the future of British middle-distance running looks in secure hands.

“Oh, man, that was painful,” said Muir, whose time of 2.31.93 beat Kelly Holmes’s national record and the Russian Yulia Fomenko’s European record – but was just over a second outside Maria Mutola’s world mark of 2:30.94. “I got to 800m and saw the clock as I went by, so it was a matter of digging deep on that last lap. I went for it. World records are always going to be tough – I was about a second off. But at a distance event, I’ll take that.”

The 23-year-old has set European records over 1,000m and 3,000m, and a British record over 5,000m this winter, but now has her sights on a 1500m and 3,000m double at the European Indoors in Belgrade in a fortnight.

“Medals are what any athlete wants to have at the end of their career. I’d love to get a couple in Belgrade, preferably as close to gold as possible,” she said.

Farah celebrated his victory in 13:09.16 by throwing his spikes into the crowd. “It’s sinking in that my career is coming to an end on the track,” he said. “I’m happy. It’s a lot better than it was in Edinburgh. I needed to get out in the mountains, put in the miles and train harder, which is what I did over the last four weeks. I got emotional at the end, saying goodbye.”

But Farah wasn’t entirely impressive and for several times over the last lap he kept looking over his shoulder at Albert Rop, who was in his slipstream waiting to pounce, before pushing away over the final 50m.

He admitted Rop had given him a scare. “I didn’t know he was in that kind of shape,” he said. “He was sitting right behind me. I didn’t know whether to stick with him or go.”

The speed of the new track in Birmingham was evident as Britain’s Andrew Pozzi set a personal best – and the fastest time in the world this year – running 7.43sec to power away from his compatriot David King in the 60m hurdles. “It all went to plan,” said Pozzi, who has had four years blighted by injuries, including half a dozen operations on his foot.

“I know there is a really quick time in there and I am hoping to get it out at the Euros in two weeks’ time. I’m in really great shape and to keep running personal bests and faster, even if it is only slight, makes me feel positive.”

In the women’s 60m, the Jamaican Elaine Thompson was just as impressive, slicing through the seven-second barrier as she won in 6.98sec, leaving behind a field who included Britain’s Asha Philip.

Laviai Nielsen, a 20-year-old from Enfield, underlined her potential by chopping the best part of a second off her time for the 400m to set a personal best of 51.90sec – only to be overtaken by the world 400m hurdle champion, Zuzana Hejnova, who was just too strong.

But the day belonged to Muir. On this evidence, the year could do too.