Kiwi Willis takes American Trophy after stylish run

OLYMPIC silver medallist Nick Willis (New Zealand) earned the coveted American Trophy for the best performance of the meet after winning the 1,500m at Cork City Sports at the CIT Stadium in Bishopstown in Cork on Saturday.

The New Zealander was most impressive (3:40.00) — hanging back before racing clear to defeat his American training partner, Will Lear, 3:41.00, and another American, Ben Blankenship, who finished in 3:41.50.

“I have been healthy for the first time in a long time,” he said. “I had hip surgery in ‘09 and then hip surgery in 2010, so it’s nice that I’ve had seven or eight months of uninterrupted training. The strength is good and every week I am just testing the speed a little bit and I think there was a lot of it evident today in the final lap.”

Willis now plans to savour his time in Ireland. He explained: “I am going to arrange a cab for half a day and my wife and I are going to visit a bit of the coast. When you come to Ireland you got to see the cliff tops — and then I’ve got Paris on Friday and I go into the Birmingham 800m on Sunday.

“My wife, Sierra, and me travel together, we are a family business, we pray before and after the races. It is a unique privilege to be able to do what we do.”

The field also included Leevale’s Ciaran Ó Lionaird who finished eighth in 3:44.40.

“Right now I’m not race sharp. After the NCAAs, I was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma and I took time off, to see the doctors, get the tests done and you get breathing exercises. Today I just put myself into position with 500m to go but I knew I would not have it in the last 200m and I just wanted to see if there was a chance I could stay out there. It’s not college days any more — it’s big dogs and there are expectations — nothing comes easy.

“They are announcing the team for the world student games this weekend and I’ve made myself available for selection for 1,500m because, given my breathing, the 10k is too much. But if I have to pay €3,500 to go to China, I’m not going to do it. I’m going to put that money into getting optimum training location before (London) 2012. Making the Olympic team is the number one goal now.”

Another youngster in the field with an eye on London 2012 is Adam Cotton from Birchfield Harriers who finished seventh in 3:44.00. His uncle, Ian Stewart, won the American Trophy in 1972 and his mother Mary, along with her brothers, Ian and Peter, were all Olympians. He was a top-class young tennis player until he was 14 when the national coach told him to do some running to improve his endurance.