Gillick sixth in Berlin

Irish athlete David Gillick has finished sixth in the final of the 400 Metres at the World Championships tonight.

David Gillick finished sixth in tonight’s final of the 400m at the World Championships in Berlin. The Dundrum South Dublin runner came home in a time of 45.53. The final was won by America’s LaShawn Merritt in a time of 44.06, the fastest in the world this year and he was followed in second by Jeremy Wariner in a time of 44.60 to make it an American one-two

Gillick’s achievement in making the final was an excellent one and the race finally began after a thunderstorm delayed it by 40 minutes. He made a strong start gaining ground on the first bend. Over the back straight Gillick was unable to make up sufficient ground to challenge the medal contenders but in the home straight he had typical strong finish and was close to taking fourth or fifth position with only tenth of a second between fourth and sixth. In what was Gillick’s first major outdoor final the 26-year-old finished as top European starting from a traditionally difficult lane.

Earlier today Ireland’s 50k race walkers Jamie Costin and Colin Griffin were unable to finish the 50k race walk final at the World Championships this morning. In gruelling conditions in Berlin both Irish walkers were in the middle of the pack and walking steadily with Griffin and Costin in 22nd and 26th respectively through the half way point.

However after the 30k mark the heat began to take its toll on both to the extent that they dropped out of the race along with a third of the field that had started early this morning. The race was won by Russia’s Sergey Kirdyapkin in a time of 3:38:35.

Gillick’s performance brought an end to Ireland’s participation in this year’s World Championships, which has been a memorable one for the Irish team. Olive Loughane brought home only Ireland’s fifth world medal when she finished second in the 20k walk last Sunday.

Paul Hession narrowly missed out on a world final in the 200m, while Derval O’Rourke put in the performance of a lifetime to make a world final in the 100m Hurdles and take fourth position along with smashing the Irish record.

A large crowd is expected at Dublin airport tomorrow as Olive Loughnane will arrive back from Berlin with her silver medal at 5:40pm. She will also be joined on the journey back by David Gillick and Paul Hession.