McIlroy finds new lease of life

James McIlroy is determined to get involved in tomorrow’s Leipzig indoor meeting after an unexpected 800 metres victory in Erfurt last night.

The Northern Irishman is hoping manager Ricky Simms can swing it for him to compete after he initially withdrew after contracting a cold.

He felt sufficiently recovered to run in the TEAG meeting in Erfurt and ran a personal best time of one minute 46.68 seconds, shaving 1.11sec off the previous best at this meeting.

The time qualified him for next month’s European Indoor Championships in Madrid, but he also hopes to be considered again for the Leipzig race.

“I’m qualified now for Madrid and that’s what matters most,” he said.

“Because of the bad cold I didn’t expect to finish the race and had already pulled out of racing in Leipzig on Sunday.

“But now I’ll see if Ricky can get me back into the race. Clearly I was unaffected by the cold which came on after I flew in from South Africa.

“When I left Potchefstroom it was 35 degrees and when I arrived in Stuttgart two days before the race it was only seven.”

McIlroy was the second Briton to achieve the Euro 800m qualifier, along with Cardiff’s Jimmy Watkins, and insisted: “I’ve been waiting over six years for this to happen.

“Now I’m certain my career has finally turned the corner for the good.”

While McIlroy celebrated, Ian Mackie was nowhere near the 400m qualification standard, finishing fourth in his race.

The Scot was never in contention and clocked a time of 48.69secs, well shy of the 47.20 mark demanded by the selectors.