ATHLETICS:IF THE alarm bells weren't already ringing in David Gillick's head they must be now. After a distinctly poor opening to the season, Gillick last night false-started in the 400 metres in Lausanne – the seventh stop in the IAAF Diamond League – and it seems everything is going from bad to worse for the World Championship finalist from two years ago.
Gillick was one of several Irish athletes to secure a prized lane in what remains one of the best meetings on the circuit, but unfortunately for him he blew it.
He didn’t so much false start as start stupidly, as Gillick unquestionably jettisoned from the blocks well before the gun. There was no disputing the immediate disqualification rule, and Gillick merely walked away, shaking his head in disappointment.
Victory on the night went to Jermaine Gonzalez of Jamaica, who just held off Belgium’s European champion Kevin Borlee in 45.27.
Gillick, having been drawn in lane eight, would have done well to make an impression anyway.
He season-best thus remains at 46.64, well down on his 44.77 Irish record, and unless things turn around fairly soon Gillick will surely struggle to run the 45.25 A standard for the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Fortunately for him, and indeed the other Irish in action last night, those World Championships are still eight weeks away.
Derval O’Rourke has perfected the art of peaking when it counts, and that’s obviously the intention this season as well: in a highly competitive 100m hurdles, O’Rourke could only manage seventh, clocking 12.98. Although a season’s best, it won’t stand for ranking purposes as it was wind-aided.
Victory there went to ever-consistent Australian Sally Pearson, in 12.47, just ahead of American Danielle Carruthers, who clocked 12.48.
O’Rourke was competitive over the opening hurdles, then lost ground, although she can take some encouragement knowing there’s still time on her side too.
O’Rourke’s training partner, Ailis McSweeney, was back in action after an Achilles’ injury, and clearly lacked race sharpness when finishing eighth in the 100m B race, clocking 12.12. McSweeney was in fact also beaten there by Niamh Whelan, who ran 11.71 for sixth.
McSweeney and Whelan were back on the track just over an hour later as part of the Irish 4x100m entry, but there was no great joy there either, when a poor start left them fifth in 45.71 – and suddenly Olympic qualification is looking a lot more daunting.
Earlier, Fionnuala Britton finished eighth in the 3,000m steeplechase, running 9:38.88.
But the rollercoaster season for Alistair Cragg continued when he was trailed off early on in a typically east African-dominated 5,000m, and was never in contention in a race won in 12:59.13 by Kenya’s Vincent Chepkok.
The headline act of the night was Asafa Powell running 9.78 in the 100m – fastest in the world this year (and not wind-aided). Tyson Gay may have failed to make the US team for Daegu, but Usain Bolt will still have a race on his hands from his fellow Jamaican.
The first five all ran under 10 seconds, including Christophe Lemaitre, who equalled his French record of 9.95, in third.
World 800m record holder David Rudisha of Kenya put his injury problems behind him with a commanding run, clocking 1:44.16 without seeming to break sweat.
