Athletics: David Gillick is coming into the form of his life as the countdown begins for the Beijing Olympics and he proved this emphatically with a new Irish 400 metres record at IAAF Permit meeting in Lille, France last night.
Running an inspired race from lane five the 25 year old Dubliner - he will be 25 next week- raced to victory in a time of 45.12 seconds, thus smashing his own year old mark of 45.23 which he set in Geneva. Gillick's previous best this year was 45.59.
This was the third successive year that Gillick has set new Irish figures, having run 45.67 in '06 and now the powerfully build Dundrum star will be looking to break the magical 45 seconds either in the lead up to the Olympics or in Beijing
itself.
Gillick's time is the fastest by a European 400 m runner this year, replacing the 45.19 which Britain's Martyn Rooney ran earlier this month.
Last night Gillick won with some powerful running over the closing stages, pulling away from the runner-up, Cedric Van Branteghem of Belgium, second in 45.24 with Teddy Venel of France third in 45.54.
The news about Derval O'Rourke in the 100 m hurdles was not so encouraging as she finished fourth in a time of 13.15 in a race won Anay Tejeda of Cuba in 12.84.