IT may be Jemma Reekie’s training partner, Laura Muir, who has been grabbing all of the headlined in the past few weeks but the Olympian isn’t the only one who started off 2017 in record-breaking fashion.

Muir smashed Liz McColgan’s 25 year-old British 5000m indoor record two weeks ago at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow but Reekie was also in impressive form at that meet, breaking the Scottish 3000m under-20 indoor record in her first-ever attempt at the distance.

The 18 year-old Kilbarchan AAC athlete is being talked about as one of the most promising track and field prospects in the country but even she didn’t expect to start the year in such impressive form.

“It felt great to see that all the hard training I’d done before Christmas pay off,” said the 800m and 1500m specialist.

“Because it was my first ever 3k, I didn’t know what to expect and it was mentally very tough because it felt like a really long way.

“It was great to have such a good start to 2017 because this is going to be a big year for me so to go out and run so well straight away was very pleasing.”

Reekie had little time to rest in the wake of that record-breaking run though; almost immediately she was lining up at the Great Edinburgh International Cross-Country race where she anchored Scotland A to a creditable third place finish in the 4 x 1000m relay event.

It was the teenager’s maiden senior appearance and while Muir overtook her to claim victory for the GB team, the teenager was buoyed by the fact that she was not out of her depth in such a strong field.

“It was pretty scary but it was an amazing experience and having my training partner there helped me a lot,” she says. “It’s definitely given me a confidence boost that I was able to hold my own in a race like that. I feel really lucky to have had that experience at such a young age.”

Reekie’s performance level has increased dramatically in recent months – she also took three seconds off her 1500m indoor personal best last weekend – in no small part due to a four week-long training camp in South Africa that she partook in alongside Muir.

“The training camp was really tough,” the teenager says. “The entire four weeks were so hard and the altitude and heat made it even harder so it was tough to cope with but it was really good.

“And it was great having Laura there because we did have a lot of fun as well as training hard.”

Reekie joined Muir’s training group, led by coach Andy Young, in the summer of 2015 and the improvements she has seen in her performance since her move have been remarkable, even to herself.

With Muir currently ranked number one in the world at 1500m, there are few better training groups to be a part of and Reekie appreciates just how fortunate she is to be able to gauge herself against the very best day in, day out.

“Training with Laura gives me a huge confidence boost and being able to see exactly how what she’s doing is great,” the teenager says. “Sometimes you think that the top athletes are doing crazy training sessions but Laura isn’t doing anything different, she’s just training really hard.

“Laura is still miles ahead of me but I can feel myself getting better. And it’s very helpful having her there to speak to – if I’m not sure about anything or if I have any concerns, I can ask her about it and she’s always so keen to help. She’s really easy to talk to and I feel like I can go to her about anything.”

Reekie has been taking part in athletics since she was nine years old, but for the first few years of her school athletics career, she consistently lost to one particular rival.

It was an experience she thinks has stood her in good stead as she moves into the senior ranks by honing her determination and drive to improve.

These are qualities that she will need to use to their full this year with the coming season set to be one of the most important of her career to date.

Her short-term goal is the European Junior Championships, which take place in Italy in July, but with the 2018 Commonwealth Games now only 15 months away, the teenager already has an eye on making it to the Gold Coast before she turns her attention to fulfilling a childhood dream, running in the Olympics.

“I’d love to get to the Commonwealth Games next year, that would be amazing,” she says.

“I feel like this is the best shape that I’ve ever been in and so I’m hoping that I can get my times down this year. And the Olympics is definitely an aim – when I first started running, I always said that I’d compete in the Olympics, so I’m really hoping that by 2020, I can get there.”