Gillick needs to hit top gear to reach 400m final

IRELAND’S David Gillick may be the second fastest 400m runner competing, but he will have to reproduce his best form at the European indoor athletics championships this evening if he is to make it through to tomorrow’s final.

The Dubliner, who is joined by David McCarthy and Rob Daly, also members of the bronze medal winning team at last year’s world indoor championships, is viewed as a potential medallist and while his claims were reinforced by the absence of other top runners, his task was made more difficult when the first round heats were scrapped yesterday with five of the 19 entries failing to declare, leaving a field of 14.

The result is three semi-finals to be run this evening with the winner of each to go through automatically to the final along with the three fastest losers.