| Scorching Gillick breaks 45-second barrier |
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FLYING Dubliner David Gillick has an extra special reason to celebrate his 26th birthday this week after finally smashing the 45-second barrier to establish himself as a truly world-class 400m runner. Gillick said his sensational time of 44:77 in Madrid on Saturday night had "taken a huge weight off my back and given me a huge boost ahead of the World Championships," which take place in Berlin in mid-August. The Dundrum South Dublin man's sub-45 time puts him joint-fourth fastest in the world this season and two of the three faster than him are America's Olympic champion LeShawn Merritt and runner-up Jeremy Wariner. The DSD star's massive breakthrough can be measured by the fact that the bronze in Beijing was won in 44:80. This milestone is a massive boost for Gillick (below). Madrid has been good to him as he won his first European Indoor title there in 2005. Since 2007, he has been based in Loughborough training under Nick Dakin, and that is paying off. "I think that I already had a sub-45 in my legs last year but I couldn't do it," said Gillick, who next races in the Golden League meet in Rome on Friday. Elsewhere, Paul Hession (Athenry) and Robert Heffernan (Togher) provided the home highlights in the 58th Cork City Sports. Heffernan was pipped, in a photo finish by Mexico's Eder Sanchez in a thrilling climax to the 3,000m walk, but the local 20km specialist still smashed his Irish 3km record of 11:27 with a new mark of 11:14.09. Leitrim walker Colin Griffin also broke his old mark when third in 11:19.70. Hession retained his 200m title for the fourth year in a row in 20:46 (+3.5) but was beaten in the 100m by Antigua's Brendan Christian (10:12). He next races in Lausanne tomorrow night where he's likely to line up against Usain Bolt. Young Tallaght sprinter Brian Gregan was another impressive Irish winner, taking the 400m in 47:02 and Deirdre Ryan won the high jump with 1.89m. In the absence of the injured Derval O'Rourke, Andrea Bliss (Jamaica) won the sprint hurdles in 12:99 and America's James Nieto won a thrilling men's high jump on countback after four men cleared 2.21m. Gillick Podcast - cliona foley |
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