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.”