Athletics: David Gillick continued his Olympic preparations with a confidence building run in tonight's Golden League meeting in Rome.
The Dublin athlete, who withdrew from last weekend's Grand Prix meeting in Madrid with a slight knee problem, looked quite at home in a stellar 400 metres field.
Drawn unfavourably in lane one, Gillick entered the equation as the athletes entered the home straight and while he tied up slightly approaching the line he rallied to finish in a creditable sixth place.
His time of 45.52 seconds may have been marginally outside the Irish record he set last month (45.12) but the signs are that Gillick will travel to China in the form of his life.
Defending Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner's took the gold, pipping fellow American LaShawn Merritt in a time of 44.36.
Earlier, Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell's Olympic preparations suffered a slight setback when he pulled up in his heat of the 100 metres with a groin strain.
The former world record holder finished fifth in the heat despite pulling up abruptly at the end and qualified for the final with a time of 10.19 seconds.
But he decided not to race on even though his manager Paul Doyle said the problem was not serious.