Gillick retains his European title
Saturday, 3 March 2007
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David Gillick stormed home to take gold in the 400m at the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham, retaining the medal he won two years ago in Madrid.
Gillick had cruised through his heats and semi-final and his main rival looked to be the German runner Bastain Swillims.
Swillims led from the start but it was Gillick, who maintained a postion on the German runner's shoulder all the way, who made decisive burst in the home straight to take gold in a new Irish national record time of 45.52.
Johan Wissman of Sweden, with whom Gillick jostled in the early stages of the race before surging to claim second position, was pipped at the line for third by Great Britain's Robert Tobin.
Earlier, Alastair Cragg was unable to defend his 3000m title. He was burned off in the final 400m of his race and could only finish in sixth position in a time of 8.03.70.
