LAURA Muir completed her dream double by claiming gold in the 3000 metres at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade yesterday.

The 23-year-old stormed to victory in a championship record time of eight minutes 35.67 seconds, adding to her 1500m victory on Saturday.

Fellow Scot Eilish McColgan claimed bronze as Muir won by over eight seconds ahead of Turkey’s Yasemin Can.

And there was a silver later on for Eilidh Doyle after Britain finished second in the women’s 4 x 400m.

Muir and Can broke away early in their race before the Scot powered away with 300m left to win easily. Muir said: “I was still awake at 3am. I got to bed quite early but just couldn’t sleep because I was buzzing from the race yesterday. The legs felt OK but I was definitely quite tired and I got about five or six hours’ sleep.

“Halfway through the race I was thinking ‘I’m feeling a bit tired’, and I was hoping she wasn’t going to ramp it up any more. I managed to hang in there and knew I had the kick so I just waited and then I went for it.”

And Muir, who will return to her studies in veterinary medicine at the University of Glasgow tomorrow, knows her double will put further pressure on her to succeed.

She said: “You can’t win medals and break records without raising expectations. I’ll take it all in my stride. I take it as support, not pressure, and I’ve shown I can deal with it.”

McColgan beat Holland’s Maureen Koster almost on the line to reach the podium while the third Scot in the final, Steph Twell came fifth.

McColgan said: “She [Muir] has shown she’s more than capable of doing it. In the 1500m, Laura has shown she is easily one of the best in the world and one of the best we have ever had.”

McColgan, who finished in eight mins 47.43 secs, added: “When you see the medal is there, with 200m to go I was thinking ‘this is my chance’. I would have been so disappointed with fourth, it’s the worst place to come. I’ve just picked the wrong generation with Laura and Can as well. It’s not like they are the best in Europe, they are two of the best in the world.”

Soon after Muir’s triumph Shelayna Oskan-Clarke collected Britain’s third medal of the day when she claimed silver in the women’s 800m, 100th of a second behind Switzerland’s Selina Buchel, after almost catching her rival on the line.

Asha Philip claimed a surprise 60m crown in 7.06 seconds after Muir had stormed to victory.

The women’s 4x400m relay squad of Doyle, Laviai Nielsen, Philippa Lowe and Mary Iheke also claimed silver in three minutes 31.05 seconds behind Poland.

The quartet tried to lead from the start but were caught by Poland on the third leg.