Gillick third behind Olympic champ Merritt

David Gillick continued his strong July form with a third place finish behind current Olympic champion Lashawn Merritt and David Neville over 400 metres in Monaco this evening

Gillick ran an Irish record 44.77 seconds over 400m in Madrid at the start of this month to become the first Irishman to break 45 seconds over the distance. He followed that by just missing out on a Golden League victory in Rome a week later.

Drawn in lane three for this evening's event, Gillick began with a false start that put the entire field on a warning.

They got away at the second time of asking and Gillick tracked Merritt who was drawn just outside him in lane four, through the first 200 metres even as the American made significant ground on the runners outside him.

Rounding the home bend, Gillick was still within striking distance and he showed excellent strength to hold the challenge of French runner Leslie Djhone though he could not quite get up on Neville, who will not be in the field for the World Championships.

Merritt was the only man to break 45 seconds, winning in 44.73 seconds. Neville ran 45.26 with Gillick clocking 45.34.

Speaking after the race, Gillick said: 'I've had a heavy block of training after picking up a slight niggle in Rome - which has stopped me doing much top-end speed work.

'We always planned to build this work back in, and I will run the 200m at the Irish Championships this weekend in Dublin as part of that training.'

He added: 'Everything is still on course for Berlin, where I feel I can show people what I'm made of after a disappointing Olympics last year.'

In the 800 metres, Irish runner Thomas Chamney, who has been working on his strength in a bid to improve his prospects over 1500 metres, came seventh of eleven runners in a time of 1:45.50.

The race was won by Abubaker Kaki of Sudan in 1:43.50.