by Stuart Weir
This is the second piece by our Senior writer for Europe, Stuart Weir, remotely. Stuart is recovering from surgery and watching the BBC broadcast on a daily basis, which makes me quite jealous (about the BBC thing). We wish our friend a speedy recovery.
The captain leads by example.
Laviai Nielsen – a four-time world outdoor relay medallist – was chosen as captain of the GB team at the World Indoors at Glasgow. On receiving the captaincy, Nielsen said, “It was quite surreal to receive the phone call from Paula (Dunn). This is my third home Championships and my fifteenth senior Championships for GB and NI, so I think I have the right experience and wisdom to share with the team. I am very excited to deliver my speech.
“It feels like it has come full circle for me. In 2012, I volunteered in front of a home crowd in London. I felt the warmth of the crowd, and hearing that inspired me to pursue this career. Five years later I competed at the World Championships in London and won my first global medal, and then I did the Euros in Glasgow back in 2019 and I am back there again this year. So, I want to express to the team how special it is to compete in front of a home crowd and how lifted they will feel. They should embrace this opportunity and use the crowd for that extra push which will add to their performances.”
Running twice on day one, Laviai won her prelim this morning in 51.82 and then came third in 51.44 behind Femke Bol and Alexis Holmes, just holding off Henrietta Jaeger by 0.04 of a second. I thought it was a pretty good performance but Laviai’s comment was “It was a bit messy. That was probably the kick up the backside that I needed, I’m just really annoyed as I’m not going to get a good lane for the final”. I suppose that is why she is an elite athlete, and I am not!
The final is Saturday evening.
