On a day where there were 18 UK titles to decide, Laura Muir claimed gold in the 3,000m, as a weekend of top-class athletics continued at the Microplus UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham, whilst fellow Scot Jemma Reekie also won gold in the 800m final.

Olympic silver medallist, Muir, claimed her victory in eight minutes 58.80 seconds, earning a spot at the coming World Indoor Championships on home soil in Glasgow. And she will be joined there by fellow Scot Jemma Reekie, who won the 800m final with a time of 1:58.24.

Muir (pic), who also has her eyes on the Paris Olympics, will compete in the city where she lives and said: "Paris is the main goal this year but I want to go to Glasgow and be competitive.

"It's really special to be having a global championship in Glasgow. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me." Reekie, who set a championship record in the 800m, earned her place in Glasgow with a routine victory, finishing comfortably ahead of Isabelle Boffey in second and Erin Wallace in third.

The Nielsen twins produced the perfect family affair as they produced a top-two finish in the women's 400m final. Laviai (Nielsen) secured gold with a time of 51.54 seconds, narrowly beating sister Lina, who secured an indoor personal best of 51.95.

“I was quite nervous coming in as the favourite,” said Lavis. “I knew how strong Lina would be and I knew she was running well and would push me all the way. 

“It is hard to race knowing you are being chased but I knew I needed to take it on hard. This year has been to stick to the plan, and we have done that and achieved exactly what we wanted.”

Lily Hulland took the first title of the afternoon in the women’s triple jump final, and also a first for her fledgling career. In a final where each medallist jumped an indoor personal best, Hulland raised her game to respond to the challenge.

Adelaide Omitowoju equalled the lead with 12.94m with her last jump – winning silver, with Amy Warre claiming bronze with her last leap of 12.88m. In other events at a massively packed Utilita Arena, double world heptathlon champion, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, throwing an indoor personal best of 13.29m in the shot-put final, to also qualify for Glasgow.

Despite that, though, she will not compete at the World Indoor Championships as she prepares for this summer's Olympics. "I am gutted because I did European indoors in Glasgow in 2018 and I've got really good memories of it," she said.

"It's just a decision to throw everything into Paris." Morgan Lake and Amelia Campbell were other winners in Birmingham after high jumper Lake claiming gold with a clearance of 1.85m. and shot-putter Campbell won gold after registering 17.74m to claim her deserved victory, whilst Scott Lincoln took the Men’s title.

Other events saw Archie Yeo claim the biggest title of his career with his gold medal triple jumper after the 20-year-old Loughborough University student leaped with an indoor personal best of 15m55. Following him were Seun Okome, who claimed silver with a best of 15m36 and Daniel Akinradewo, who snatched bronze with a last-effort attempt of 15m19.

“Having got this indoor title, now I want the outdoor,” Yeo said. The day also produced impressive wins for Piers Copeland and Jack Higgins, who both came from behind to win gold in the men’s 1500m and 800m respectively.

Ama Pipi won the women’s 200m title a year after taking the 400m crown, while James West and Lee Thompson took gold in the men’s 3000m and 400m respectively. In other highlights, the men’s long jump final saw late drama as Alexander Farquharson claimed gold with a last-round leap of 7.46m., whilst Samuel Khogali took silver with his third round 7.41m.

Sam Danson took bronze with a best of 7.40m. The men’s high jump final went down to the wire and it was Tom Hewes who stripped last year’s champion Will Grimsey of his title on countback. 

The only two to advance to 2.18m, Hewes cleared first time and Grimsey second, which would prove vital as both failed at 2.21m. That was a personal best for Hewes, who also claimed his first UK indoor title, while bronze went to Akin Coward with 2.12m.

In the women’s 3000m walk final there were personal bests set led by Abigail Jennings, who successfully defended her title with an impressive career indoor best time of 14:09.22. She was followed by Gracie Griffiths who also went under her indoor best with a 14:12.62 clocking for silver while Abby Hughes’ 14:19.09 for bronze was an overall personal best for the 3000m distance.

It was some of the top-class titles that were claimed during a perfect weekend of top-class UK athletics in Birmingham.