Gillick set for Moscow return
In fact he has run precious few 400m races since because his outdoor season last year was brutally curtailed by injury.
But the Dubliner is set to take his place in the line-up for the World Championships in Moscow next weekend following two weeks of intensive training in Florida, where fellow Irishmen Mark Carroll, Garrett Turnbull and Liam Reale are training.
And he returned home at the weekend to the news that the authorities at DIT, where he is studying, decided to put back an exam scheduled for next week to allow him to travel to Moscow.
“That’s what finally made up my mind,” he said yesterday. “My plan for the year is geared towards the European championships in Gothenburg next summer. I had no intention of doing an indoor season.
“But I was running really fast just off weight training,” he said, explaining how he has benefited from the assistance of Will Heffernan, an Aussie strength and conditioning expert who has based himself in Dublin.
He went to the AAA indoor championships in Sheffield, where he took the silver medal in 21.47 secs, having run a new personal best in the earlier rounds at 21.36 secs. A week later he won the national title at the Odyssey in Belfast.
“It might appear funny to say that I am running fast even though I have not done any fast work at all. My times over the sprint distances are good,” he said.
“When I ran over in Sheffield I always had something in the back of my head saying that if I could run some 200m races in the low 21 seconds, I could possibly go to the World Indoor Championships. I did just that and then I backed it up in Belfast. There was always an inkling that I would give the worlds a bash.”
Operating at a whole new level since winning the European indoor title, he feels that just mixing with world class athletes is important. It’s not just about experience any more.
“With the Commonwealth Games on there will be a number of the top people missing from Moscow,” he said.
“You don’t get that many opportunities like this. If you are going to progress as an athlete you have to mix with those guys.”
Derval O’Rourke turned in another world class performance in Lievin at the weekend when she equalled the new national record she set at 7.90 secs in Belfast to beat a high class field in the 60m hurdles.
James Nolan was just short of Marcus O’Sullivan’s record when he finished fourth behind Yuri Borzakovsky in the 1,000m in 2:21.55 to give himself another boost in advance of the World Indoor Championships.
Ciara Sheehy finished second to the world champion, Christine Arron of France, in the 200m in 23.30 secs.
Unfortunately the 200m has been dropped from the indoor championship programme but she is poised for an exciting outdoor season.
Despite being ranked among the top long jumpers in the world this year, Ciaran McDonagh, who set the outdoor record at 8.07m last season and the indoor record at 8.00m in January, will be absent from Moscow, having failed in his bid to achieve the qualifying standard (8.10m).
But he rounded off his indoor season with an enthralling contest at the Erdgas Hallen meeting in Cheminitz at the weekend. The 29-year-old Meathman battled world silver medallist, Ignicious Gaisah of Ghana, and former Olympic silver medallist, James Beckford of Jamaica and, despite four fouls, beat Beckford on countback after they both jumped 7.99m. McDonagh’s opening 7.78m was 1cm ahead of Beckford’s second best jump.
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