22.02.2010

Olympic silver medallist to fuel trans-Tasman fire

In what is shaping up as a super trans-Tasman showdown, Olympic 1500m silver medallist and reigning Commonwealth Games champion Nick Willis (NZL) will take on Australia’s own 1500m men Jeff Riseley, Jeremy Roff and Mitch Kealey at the Melbourne Track Classic on Thursday, March 4.

Hot on the heels of his new national 1500m indoor record at the Birmingham Grand Prix (GBR) at the weekend, where he clocked 3:35.8 to eclipse Sir John Walker’s 31-year mark of 3:37.4, Willis will head to Melbourne in ominous form.

The Beijing Olympics silver medallist and 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medallist will join world championships 1500m representatives Riseley and Roff and Beijing Olympics 1500m runner Mitch Kealey in Melbourne, in what looms as an enticing prelude to the track action at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October.

Olympic and world championships 3000m steeplechase representative Youcef Abdi will also join the star-studded field as the race for Commonwealth Games selection rolls on.

Twenty-six-year-old Willis will return to Melbourne on the comeback trail from a serious hip injury that ruled him out of the 2009 world championships and as he looks towards his Commonwealth Games title defence.

“I'm pumped to return to Melbourne to race again,” Willis said.

“Winning the 1500m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in front of 90,000 people at the MCG was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Coming back will give me a great chance to reflect on the moment that helped launch my international career and this will be another great opportunity to show the rest of the world that we can turn on world-class performances Down Under”.

The two-time Olympian, whose resume also includes a silver medal at the 2008 world indoor championships, bronze at the 2008 World Athletics Final and two world championships appearances (2005, 2007), said trans-Tasman honours would be on the line when he steps out at Melbourne Olympic Park next month.

“It’s great to see a group of Aussie middle distance guys running so well but, like Kiwis in all sports, there is no one I would hate to lose to more than an Aussie,” Willis said.

“It should be a fast race and I welcome all the Kiwis living in Victoria to come along to see one of their own competing against the best in the world in their own backyard”.

Willis’ arrival in Melbourne will follow an impressive few weeks on the international circuit for the Kiwi runner, taking out the invitational mile at the Boston Indoor Games earlier this month in 3:55.26 before going on to rewrite the New Zealand record books in Birmingham at the weekend.

The New Zealand national 1500m record-holder, who boasts a personal best time of 3:32.17, is the latest in a long line of New Zealand middle distance runners to succeed on the world stage and follows Olympic Games medallists Jack Lovelock (1936), Peter Snell (1960, 1964), Rod Dixon (1972), Dick Quax (1976) and John Walker (1976) in making waves worldwide.

Willis’ rise to the elite ranks of international middle distance running follows time spent under famed coach Ron Warhurst at the University of Michigan from 2002, which culminated in the New Zealander taking gold in the mile event at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships.

The IAAF-sanctioned Melbourne Track Classic is the final stopover on the 2010 Australian Athletics Tour, which continues this Saturday night with the Sydney Track Classic at Sydney Olympic Park.

The weekend’s penultimate round sees world and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker and world discus champion Dani Samuels join international challengers David Rudisha (KEN, 400m), David Neville (USA, 400m), Trevell Quinley (USA, long jump) and Tero Pitkamaki (FIN, javelin throw) in headlining a night of non-stop track and field action.

Sydney Track Classic: Sydney Olympic Park – Saturday, February 27
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Melbourne Track Classic: Melbourne Olympic Park – Thursday, March 4
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