Athletics: Willis sets sights on final at world champs

Nick Willis hopes that knocking off John Walker's long-standing 1500m record will lead to a resurgence in middle-distance running in New Zealand.

Speaking from Belgium, where he is preparing for the world championships -which start in a week's time in Helsinki, Finland - Willis said he hoped the achievement would "open a gate" for other athletes who have started to perform well.

Willis ran 3m 24.45s in a Golden League event in Paris this month, breaking Walker's 29-year-old New Zealand record of 3m 32.35s.

"Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a resurgence in New Zealand distance running. Now we have Adrian Blincoe qualified for the world championships and Paul Hamblyn is running well.

"The more I can improve hopefully it will urge on others to realise what is available against the rest of the world and that these times are achievable and it is not just something that just [John] Walker and [Peter] Snell could do in the past."

Willis, who studies at the University of Michigan, has spent the past few weeks in Europe competing over a variety of distances.

Today he will line up against a star-studded field in the "dream mile" in the Bislett Games in Norway, his last event before the world championships.

"My training has been so I can put all my aces down at the world championships.

"I feel I am right on track to peak. Then all I can do is give it my best and see where that will place me when I line up against the best in the world."

Ranked seventh going into the world championships, Willis has his sights firmly set on a place in the final.

"I think that would be a realistic and worthy goal to shoot for me to get in the top seven.

"Then I would say plus or minus five places. Minus five would make me 12th, which would still qualify me for the final. Plus five would put me in medal contention."

A semifinalist in Athens, Willis regards the 2004 Olympics as the first phase of his career.

"The major change is that I don't feel the pressure any more to reach to this level.

"Now that I am here and know that anytime that I improve will leapfrog me closer and closer to hopefully, one day, being on the medal podium. I take a more professional approach in some aspects but a more relaxed one in other aspects now that I have come past that initial barrier.

"In the end it is all about the places you get to go and the people you get to meet because in the end, it is just one foot ahead of the other."

After the world championships, Willis plans to stay in Europe for a further five or six weeks to continue training and competing in Grand Prix events. After that, his preparation for the Commonwealth Games will begin.

"I haven't spent too much time planning out my training, I am just starting to brainstorm now what races I'll approach in my buildup. It is likely I'll come home over Christmas and train in New Zealand leading up to the Games."

A deal with Reebok, signed a month ago, has meant financial stability.

"I feel like I am one of the luckiest guys in the world to have an opportunity to do what I love as a job so I'll be giving it everything for as long as it is my career."

Nick Willis

Distance: 1500m.

Born: Lower Hutt, April 1983.

Career highlights

2005: Broke John Walker's 1500m New Zealand record in Paris.

2004: Olympics: semifinalist.