RECORDS fell and athletes tumbled as a bumper number of Scots pressed their claims for involvement at next month’s home European Indoor Athletics Championships before the selection window closed at 5.30pm yesterday. Top billing as usual went to Laura Muir, who already has two places all to herself in the 1500m and 3000m. She didn’t just beat Kirsty Wade’s 31-year British indoor mile record here; she obliterated it. Her 4.18.75 was the third-fastest indoor mile in history, stripping five seconds off Wade’s 1988 mark and making you wonder how the hell Genzebe Dibaba managed to run five seconds quicker when setting her 2016 world record.

Only her first outing over this range this season, the 25-year-old from Milnathort professed it the perfect preparation for the defence of her two European titles on home soil and said it was now time go into cold strorage to avoid any last-minute bouts of the flu. Running like this, that may be the only thing that can stop her.

“To run one of the fastest times ever, and a British record, as your last race before a home championships is perfect,” said Muir. “I’ve come so close to the mile mark a few times outdoors so it’s nice to nail it indoors, especially one that’s stood for such a long time with an iconic runner like Kirsty Wade. Now I’m going to try and stay away from as many people as possible. It’s not that I don’t like people, it’s just that there are so many colds out there.”

Other than keeping a clean bill of health, the biggest hurdle Muir has to negotiate in her bid to retain both gold medals is the two-hour gap between her 1500m heat (at 7.20pm) and her straight 3000m final (9.15pm) at the Emirates Arena a week on Friday. She is confident the intensity of her regular training will see her through. “I’m used to being tired almost every day,” she said. “What you saw there is not too far away from what I’m like most days of the week. It wasn’t so long ago that I did an 800, 1500 and a 4x400 in a league match. I think I’m getting softer!”

Scotland will exceed its previous record by contributing a minimum of eight athletes to the GB and NI team for the Glasgow event and in all likelihood possibly a few more too. But perhaps the strongest show of strength from Scottish athletes yesterday was the fact that Josh Kerr could run a new national indoor 1500m record and probably not be one of them. The 21-year-old from Edinburgh, who didn’t appear at the British trials last week due to his university commitments stateside, hit a giant PB of 3.35.72 which was only good enough for fourth in a race where Ethiopian teenager Samuel Tefera broke Hicham El Guerrouj’s 1997 world record.

While his selection at this late stage would be fairly unprecedented, Kerr, the first British finisher ahead of his fellow Scots Chris O’Hare, Neil Gourley and Andrew Butchart (who didn’t finish), urged the selectors to have an 11th hour look in his direction. “I still want to be considered, I was just unable to run the trials,” said Kerr, who is scheduled to fly back to the US today. “I had exams at university which wouldn’t have allowed me to be away from university from five weeks. They could still pick me if they want to, I showed that I was the strongest British 1500m guy today. I told them I had classes for the next six months and that had to come first. But I’d love to go out there and try to go out and get a medal.”

Eilidh Doyle and EIlish McColgan went into the race facing sweats to secure their place, but both big hitters delivered when the heat was on. Doyle, fourth in the trials behind her Zoey Clark, was already sure of relay berth but what she really wanted was an individual slot and she knew she faced a straight shoot-out with Laviai Nielsen to get one. Rather than get bogged down in the battle, she ran her own race, a season’s best of 52.43 in second behind Stephenie Ann McPherson rubber stamping her ticket for Glasgow.

“It is a relief, I must admit,” said Doyle. “I’d have felt like a fraud after doing all the campaigns for 100 days to go and stuff like that. I had the relay to fall back on but I did want the individual and there was pressure to get the job done. But Laura is the poster girl for this one. I can just go and enjoy it!.”

McColgan, who missed the trials last week with illness, was also plunged into one of these battles but she was proved that she is in a different class to Amy Neale, the other Brit who had designs on her place in the 3000m at Glasgow alongside her Dundee Hawkhill team-mate Muir and Melissa Courtney of Wales. “The fact I’m running and I’m here is massive for me,” said McColgan. “I have two weeks in the lead up to Europeans and I need to get healthy again. I’ve medalled before there and I know I can do it again.”

Guy Learmonth was the man who fell to earth - painfully hitting his flank off the track after a collision in front left him with nowhere to go - though thankfully he is already assured of his 800m berth after an equally dramatic race last weekend. The main injury he sustained was a hand injury caused by punching the ground with frustration as his hopes of breaking Tom McKean’s Scottish 800m record bit the dust.

Sprinter Adam Thomas, a second place finisher in the trials, clocked 6.67 in the 60m but it wasn’t enough to get inside the 6.60 qualifying standard. He had the consolation of knowing only six people in Europe so far have.