No longer the third man

This time last year, Irish 800 metre running was in a crescendo. James McIlroy emerged from nowhere to run one minute 45.32 seconds. National record holder David Matthews was again the big hope at the European Championships. And his UCD team-mate, James Nolan, was the third man.

As the World Championships begin in Seville today, the situation couldn't be more different. McIlroy overcooked his ambitions this summer and will watch from the stands. Matthews has struggled with his form and only qualified late in the season. But Nolan took a grip on the event back in January and hasn't let go.

"This has been my best year so far, no doubt about that," he says. "From the start of the year everything has more or less gone to plan, but Seville is still the big one. It's the last big effort of the year and I want to make sure I end it on a good note."

At 22, the Tullamore man has consistently worked his way towards the number one spot. Under the guidance of the late Noel Carroll at UCD, he made the smoothest of transitions from the junior to senior ranks. Carroll's sudden death last October forced Nolan in a new direction, but fortunately the progression has been unaltered.

"I suppose I had to put more structure on my life in general. I was more or less full-time, but I had to make other adjustments as well and give it the total approach. I've put a lot more things together this season and they've all helped it pay off."

Under the advice of Brendan Hackett, the plan was to work on the weaknesses and maintain the strengths. "We have changed the emphasis of the training. A lot of it is Steve Ovett-type stuff, in that I'll do repeat 800 metres as well as repeat 200 metres, working both ends of the scale. You don't get too many 800 metre guys doing that these days. I was always happy with my speed, but the strength needed some work. Brendan believes that it's the stuff you're scared off that you need to work on."

He took the new approach to the boards, and in January ran 1:47.26 to break Carroll's 30-year-old Irish indoor record. From there he went to the World Indoor Championships in Japan and ended up fifth in the final. But outdoors is always where it counts, and that's where Nolan had his real targets. "The plan for every year now is to get to one championship where I know I can get a medal and another where I know I will be tested. This year it was the European Under-23 Championships in Gothenberg that I wanted a medal, and Seville where I will test myself."

Before any of that, however, he put the qualifying time for Seville out of the way with a personal best of 1:46.05 when finishing third in the Helsinki Grand Prix in June. A week later he ran a mile in 3:56.31 at Gateshead, which ranks him the third fastest debut of all time. At the National Championships last month, he completed one half of his desire to run two fast races back-to-back when he blasted out a 1:46.61 solo effort in the heats - also an improvement on the previous championship best performance of Noel Carroll. A slight hamstring twinge forced him out of the following day's final. It was a decision which, he believes, was blown well out of proportion by the media.

"Running that fast at the championships was no surprise, but I felt a slight stiffness afterwards and pulled out of the final purely as a precautionary measure. Then everyone went mad saying I had this major injury and had to prove myself before Seville. I was thinking of the under-23 race to come and that decision obviously paid off."

He travelled to Gothenberg "110 per cent fit" and got his due reward with a silver medal in 1:46.94 behind the European senior champion Nils Schumann of Germany. "That wasn't even the perfect race. I didn't have all the bounce I wanted.

"But the most important thing going into Seville has been the consistency. I've been able to turn out 1:46 in every race and I think that's a lot better than running 1:45 once off. I have it worked out in my head what it will take to make the semi-final, and if I get that then I'll be fairly happy. A place in the final, well, we'll see."

Either way, Nolan plans to switch his emphasis to the 1,500 metres next season, the event where he sees his greatest potential.

The schedule in Seville, meanwhile, is one of the most demanding of all events, with three races over three days if one wants a place in the final. Nolan has at least that much worked out.

"I ran the 1:46.05 in my third 800 metres of the year, and I'm getting that feeling back together now. If I'm in good company then I know I can go faster than that.

"I'm definitely coming into a peak, mentally as well as physically. Nothing has gone wrong this summer so I'm very confident. I ran a 47.6 relay split in the 400 metres last weekend and I'm ready to go.