Gillick goes sub-45 secs again

Ireland's David Gillick sensationally broke the 45-second barrier for the second time in six days at the Golden Gala Meeting in Rome tonight.

The flying Dubliner put in another tremendous effort to clock 44.82 seconds in the IAAF Golden League 400 metres, finishing just one-hundredth of a second behind race winner Chris Brown from the Bahamas.

Gillick produced a strong finish, showing great stamina to almost overhaul Brown, a recent Golden League winner in Berlin, in the closing strides.

It was a top quality field, with highly-rated Trinidadian Renny Quow beaten into third place and Olympic bronze medallist David Neville back in seventh.

44.82 is the eleventh fastest 400m run this year and for Gillick, who turned 26 yesterday, things are beginning to fall into place ahead of next month's World Championships in Berlin.

He started the outdoor season with race wins in Geneva, Thessaloniki, Milan and Madrid, with his time in Madrid (44.77) seeing him break 45 seconds for the first time, smash his own Irish record (45.12) and go to the top of the 2009 European list.

To put his Madrid performance from last Saturday in some context, only three athletes - American duo Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Merritt and Latroy Williams from the Bahamas - have run faster than the Dundrum South Dublin clubman this year.

With 44.80 winning a bronze medal for David Neville in Beijing last year, if Gillick can maintain his form he could turn into a real, live medal hope for the upcoming Worlds.