Irish athlete beats personal best in 400m qualifier

Dundrum-South-Dublin's David Gillick whizzed home to a new personal best tonight in Madrid, easily qualifying for tomorrow night's 400 metres European Indoor final.

The 21-year-old - already marked out as the third fastest man on the continent this year - went one better as he clocked 46.17 seconds to finish first in heat 1 of the sprint qualifiers - and in the process, sliced 0.26secs off his previous best, set last month in Sheffield.