This weekend will see athletes from Australia and New Zealand lining up on the track in Ireland, France, Germany, and Holland.

In Cork, Ireland many ‘ANZAC’s will be competing at the 60^th Cork City Sports Athletics Meet. From Australia, James Kaan and Brett Robinson and Zoe Buckman will compete over 1500m in Cork, who will be joined by Kiwi's Hannah Newbould and Olympic Silver Medalist Nick Willis. Other Kiwi’s competing in Cork include Elizabeth Lamb in the High Jump and Aaron Pulford in the 3000m who is backing up from his 3^rd place at the British U23 5,000m champ’s last week. Australian David McNeil is also entered in the 3000m.

At the same time the Meeting International in Sotteville les Rouen, France Australians Ben Offereins will contest the 400m, while Jeremy Roff will line up in the 1500m. In the Long Jump Robbie Crowther is entered, with Queensland’s Henry Frayne is in the Triple Jump.

Both Craig Mottram and Mark Fountain are entered in the 1500 at the Mondon Keien Meeting in Uden, Holland, while Mitchell Watt will be in Germany at the Bad Langensalza Long Jump Meet.

Stay tuned to Runner’s Tribe for results.

One of my favourite press conference stories concerns the great Ethiopian runner Miruts Yifter after he won the 1980 Moscow Olympic 10,000 metres.

I wasn't there, but the story goes that a Finnish journalist asked a convoluted tactical question which boiled down to what would have happened if Lasse Viren had made a move with five laps to go instead of with 300 metres to go.

The question was translated into Amharic (for Yifter), English, French (the IOC languages) and Russian. Yifter gave a brief reply which travelled back the same torturous route.

"I would have run faster," said the man known as "Yifter the Shifter".

Well tonight in the Olympic stadium, Tyson Gay found out what happens when you run faster than you ever have in your life and venture into territory which had hitherto belonged exclusively to Usain Bolt.

Simply put, Bolt just runs faster.

Consider this, Tyson Gay ran 9.71 seconds, a time bettered before last night only by Bolt's 9.69 world record set at the Beijing Olympics. Instead of the gap to the Olympic champion closing, in fact it widened. Gay ran within 0.02 of where Bolt had been, but Bolt ran a world record 9.58 and the American is now further behind than he's ever been!

Take that. To his credit, Gay was not dismayed at this turn of events. After the race, he still professed his confidence that he could also run that fast.

Asafa Powell, third in 9.84, was almost a spectator. The former world record holder has talked a good race all season, and indeed he ran about where the world record was before first he and now Bolt took it over. But injuries had not allowed him to get into shape to run down in the 9.5s.

Powell would, he said, be going home to train to run 9.58. It will take some doing.

Bolt was asked in the press conference whether he had taken the sport into a new dimension. Most would say he has, but he seemed to suggest he hasn't. Perhaps he is happy for everyone else to be in awe of him, but he does not want to be in awe of himself.

Bolt did allow that 9.58 was something special (presumably royalties are on their way to Bruce as you read this) and that he was proud of himself for being the first man there (he is, of course, the first and only man to the 9.6s, too).

Bolt also explained his pre-race joking around. He works hard all year to prepare to race the 100, he said, so he can fool around on the starting line. As soon as the starter says, 'on your marks', however, he is back in focus. You'd better believe that.

As in Beijing, Bolt nailed his start when it mattered, and led when he came out of his drive phase. "When I got to 50 in the lead I knew it was going to be hard to pass me because that's the best part of my race."

As Steve Cram wrote in a BBC column recently, Bolt is now enjoying that window in his career during which great performances seem to come almost at will and without effort. The latter is, of course, an illusion: Bolt works damn hard, but the impression he gives is otherwise.

In the meantime, his rivals, chiefly Gay and Powell right now, but others will aspire to the standards Bolt is setting, watch on in wonder.

"I knew it was humanly possible to run that fast," said Gay. "I'm just sorry that it wasn't me," he added ruefully.

"I knew I needed to run the perfect race to win," Powell observed, "but I'm not 100 percent healthy to really challenge 9.58."

The perfect race: Powell needed to run it to have a chance; so, too, did Gay. Trouble was, it was Usain Bolt who most closely approached perfection this day.




 

Len Johnson was The Melbourne Age athletics writer for over 20 years, covering five Olympics, 10 world championships and five Commonwealth Games. He is the author of The Landy Era, From Nowhere to the Top of the World, and a former national class distance runner (2.19.32 marathon) who trained with Chris Wardlaw and Robert de Castella.

1500m - Osaka World Championships Men's

Star Kiwi miler, Nick Willis, needs little introduction. At 25, Nick has had an impressive career to date. His achievements include gold at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, first at the 2005 NCAA indoor mile and a 1500m finalist at the 2007 World Championships. With Beijing fast approaching we catch up with Nick and discuss the launch of his new website, his training, lead up to Beijing, as well as reflecting upon his career to date.

RunnersTribe: Nick, thanks for your time. You have just launched a new website, (www.willisrunning.com). What was the motivation behind the site?

NW: Firstly, I receive a lot of emails from media, friends and family, asking me where they can find information on my races etc. Those who are outside of the running bubble don't know how to scan the message boards for results, or find videos on sites such as flotrack. Hopefully through my website, media and fans will be able to get more direct information on upcoming races, so they can tune in during, rather than after my races. Secondly, with the Olympics coming up, I see this as a perfect time for me to share some of my beliefs, and hopefully provide some inspiration to young runners. I want to show the youth, that you can be a serious sports person, and still have faith. Many coaches preach that faith makes people soft off the sports field, but through my training and racing, I hope to show kids how faith only makes you stronger, especially in times of trouble.

2007 Melbourne Commonwealth Games Victory

RT: You have run some very solid races this year so far including a PR for one-mile (3:50.66) at the Prefontaine Classic, a 1:45 800m at the Reebok classic (in awful conditions), and a 3:35 first up 1500m at the Addidas Track Classic. How has the training been going since these races? Do you feel as though you are currently coming into the best form of your life?

NW: As I crossed the finish line, in the Prefontaine mile, I slightly strained my adductor muscle. What this did however, was force me to go back to easy running, and tempo pace workouts for a couple of weeks. I could run fine, but anything faster than 65 second pace, irritated the strain. I then had my wisdom teeth taken out, and had to take three days off to stop the bleeding.

These obstacles to my training turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise. At this point of the year, rest can be a really helpful thing. When you have the Olympic Games around the corner, the hardest thing to do, is take some days off. Illness or an injury often help it that sense. Many of my best races, have come after being forced to take a few days off because of a sickness.

Having said all that, my training has progressed really well in the last three weeks. I have put in some solid workouts, and kept up my core and agility training in the gym. As we head over to Europe on July the 18th, I feel ready to improve on my early season times, and to time my peak perfectly coming into Beijing. Had I not taken those two weeks of down time, there is a good possibility I would have overdone it, and peaked some time in late July, instead of when it really matters - August 19th.

RT: Looking back at the decisions you have made and the roads you have gone down thus far over your career. Do you feel the move to the University of Michigan all those years ago was the correct move as far as your running career is concerned?

NW: Yes, most definitely. There are so many reasons why the NCAA system worked so well for me, but probably the most important was my new training environment. In my first two years at Michigan, my coach taught me the benefits of cross country training. The strength I developed over the cross country seasons made track racing feel easy. I came from a 400m/800m racing background through most of high school, with one or two 1500m races a year. Without my team mates, extremely strong competition throughout the NCAA, and a motivating coach, I could not have pushed myself in the off season the way that I needed. My mileage went from 20-30 miles/week in High school, to 70-80miles/week. But because I had to face phenomenally fit competitors each week, it was easy to be motivated to work on that strength. My first cross country nationals I finished 27th running 30.20 for 10km. The next year I was 18th running 29.55. I hated finishing so far back from the winner, so my hunger to have an awesome track season following these defeats was huge.

Mayoral Mile Wanganui 2006 - Victory over Mottram

My sponsorship deal with Reebok would not have been possible without the NCAA/Letsrun.com platform either. So that is something I could not have dreamed of before coming over to Michigan. Having a coach, who was regarded highly by Reebok, really helped also. Purely from a sponsorship perspective, I would recommend guys like Ryan Gregson, and Dallas Bowden to come to the NCAA, to really boost their value.

If a foreigner wins some NCAA titles, and posts some fast times, their value to the shoe companies is much greater than if they get 10th running a fast time at a European GP. Unless you are making finals at major championships, sponsorships are very meager for non-NCAA athletes.

Sponsorship is not everything by any means, but it sure helps the best athletes train and travel the way they need, in order to win the medals.

RT: How do your deep religious beliefs help or impact on your running career? Is this something you see yourself devoting your time to once your running days are over?

NW: My faith is the foundation of who I am whatever I am doing. Running is a really really tough sport. There is no place to hide when I line up for a race, but I take great confidence that God's love for me will not change whether I win, or finish last. There are many Olympic champions who do not believe in God, but I still believe that He has granted them with the health and amazing talents to be able to train and race the way they have. My faith is not so that I run faster; it's just what I believe to be the truth. I believe in Jesus Christ, that He died on a cross, and rose again three days later. This is what gives me hope, inspiration, and motivation. I believe that through Jesus' sacrifice, anyone can ask for forgiveness and be invited into heaven as part of God's family. Whether I coach, teach, sit in an office, or own a business after my running career is over, my forgiveness from Jesus will still be the same, and so I will continue to share that with others.

RT: You are down to run the double (800m and 1500m in Beijing). The 800m heats kick off the day after the 1500m final, do you think backing up will be a problem?

NW: It will definitely be a challenge, and also somewhat of a guessing game how I will feel after running three rounds of the 1500m. The 1500m is my primary goal, and I will focus 100% on that before even thinking about the 800m. This is the Olympic Games though, so you never want to turn down an opportunity to race on the world's greatest stage. Who knows? Maybe I could turn out to be a better 800m runner that 1500m runner? 800m racing in a championship is very different to that in grand prix meetings. Often the races are run with negative splits, which will suit my style of racing.

RT: Leading into Beijing, I see you are down for two 800m races (London GP on July 25, and the Karelia Games on August 3rd) and just one 1500m (Herculis Grand Prix on July 29). What are you reasons for racing the 800m races, when the 1500m is your main goal?

NW: We have really tried to improve my ability to relax while running at a fast pace this year. Running 800m races helps me get into the rhythm of running fast, then when I step up to the 1500m, the pace feels extremely easy comparatively. After the 2007 season finished, I studied a huge amount of old race videos that were available online. The major trend I noticed was that most of the top milers of the 70's and 80's were also great 800m runners. Coe, Ovett, Cram, Bayi, Elliot, Boit, Walker, Vandam, all could run at least 1.44 over two laps. After missing out of the final in Athens, I moved towards improving my strength, which was not a bad move in theory, but it was at the expense of my speed. If I can get down to 1.44 in the Finland race, then it will give me huge confidence going into Beijing, that I will be able to kick with anyone on a tactical race. If it becomes a fast final, then the speed will help me cope with the early pace.

RT: Nick, thanks for your time. Good luck for Beijing as well as your website. We hope to catch up with you post Beijing, hopefully reminiscing on Olympic glory.

Nick's website

'If I can get down to 1.44 in the Finland race, then it will give me huge confidence going into Beijing, that I will be able to kick with anyone on a tactical race'
Nick Willis