ATHLETICS / European Indoors: A long day's journey through the opening rounds of the European Indoor Championships eventually saw David Gillick produce another Irish performance that oozed class and confidence. What happened in between was certainly disappointing but Gillick's victory in the 400 metres semi-finals - just like Alistair Cragg's earlier win in the 3,000 metres heats - had the word medal written all over it. Ian O'Riordan reports from Madrid
So the Dubliner will toe the line again this evening looking to become the first Irish medal winner over 400 metres in the 39 years of European indoor running. And he should do. His 46.17 seconds yesterday improved on his recent best of 46.43. And he still looks to have more in the tank.
Already these championships have developed a sub-plot of Ireland against Spain because Gillick - again like Cragg - will have to upset the home favourite to win gold. David Canal won the second semi-final in 46.72, but he has a best of 45.93 from last month and probably remains the man to beat.
At 21, Gillick has already made brilliant progress over the last few weeks, reflected in the self-belief he showed yesterday. Hungary's Zsolt Szeglet came off the break marginally ahead, yet Gillick simply brushed his way past and cruised around the second lap untested. In the end Britain's Dale Garland took second, back in 46.89.
"I had to put the foot down to get in front," said Gillick. "That's where I got the time, and I'm chuffed with that, but all I wanted to do was win. I was so eager to get going, because I'd been building for this all winter. And I always felt I could come here and do something. So we'll see."
It's highly possible he'll go under the Irish record of 45.99 set by Paul McKee two years, but with the third semi-final won by Russia's Dmitriy Forshev in 46.60 it certainly won't be a two-man race.
But for Gillick, a student at DIT and former Gaelic footballer at Ballinteer St John's, the guarantee of the top lane draw will help add to his fast-growing ambitions. Unfortunately his two team-mates couldn't rise to the difficult qualifying standards, with David McCarthy (fourth in the second semi-final in 47.36) and Rob Daly (third in the remaining semi-final in 47.53) falling short .
It was something similar for James Nolan in the heats of the 1,500 metres. His roller-coaster season ended with a disappointing ninth place in 3:46.50. Although he got up to sixth at one stage, Nolan lacked the necessary acceleration in a race won by Spain's Arturo Casado in 3:43.37. Reyes Estevez was a slightly less conspicuous qualifier in third.
Earlier, neither Emily Maher nor Ailish McSweeney got off the blocks the way they wanted in the 60 metres, and as a result ended up at the wrong end of both their respective heats.
Maher was first up and took sixth in heat one, her 7.60 seconds well off her best of 7.42. "To be honest this is the first time in three years I've been running without an injury," said the 23-year-old former Youth Olympic champion. "Hopefully I can start building from this."
McSweeney went in the final heat, and her start was particularly disappointing. She clocked 7.44, close enough to her Irish record of 7.37, but that was still a little short of qualification.
Kerry's Jer O'Donoghue was also competing at this level for the first time, and unfortunately that inexperience showed. His 6.83 seconds left him sixth in his heat and eight places short of qualification.
Deirdre Ryan and Roisín McGettigan also endured a difficult day. Ryan started off her high jump qualification with a fine clearance of 1.78 metres, but her right ankle was already causing problems. She also got over 1.83 the first time of asking, but missed all three attempts at 1.88.
For McGettigan the problems began even earlier. A rough start to her 1,500 metres heat saw her almost immediately fall off the pace, and she admitted afterwards she thought she heard a recall. She briefly regained contact with the leaders but soon trailed off again, and finished ninth in 4:35.04.
HOW THE IRISH FARED: Men: 3000m: heat: 1: 1st A Cragg 7:54.91q; heat 2: 4th M Carroll 7:55.18q; 60m: heat 4: 6th J O'Donoghue 6.83; 400m: heat 1: 1st D Gillick 46.17q; heat 2: 4th D McCarthy 47.36; heat 3: 3rd R Daly 47.53; 1,500m: heat 2: 9th J Nolan 3:46.50; Women: 60m: heat 1: 6th E Maher 7.60; heat 4: 6th A McSweeney 7.44; 1,500m: heat 2: 9th R McGettigan 4:35.04; High jump qualification: 14th D Ryan 1.83.
IN ACTION TODAY (start times Irish) Men: 200m: heats (11.15) P Hession, P Brizzel; 60m hurdles heats (4.25) P Coghlan; 400m final (6.30) D Gillick; 3,000m final (7.15) A Cragg, M Carroll; Women: 200m heats (10.30) C Sheehy; 60m hurdles heats (4.0) D O'Rourke.
