Athletics: Willis eyes gold as Kenyans opt out

Nick Willis' chances of winning the glamour 1500m event at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games have just been made a whole lot easier.

Kenya has selected their team for the Games after trials in Nairobi and none of their top runners have been named in the 1500m.

Kenyans dominate the 2005 Commonwealth rankings in the 1500m with 20, amazingly, ranked in the top 30 including the first four.

Willis comes in at fifth.

So Willis will go to Melbourne with the fastest 1500m time in the Commonwealth over the last 14 months.

Willis also heads to Melbourne on the back of a world-class mile time of 3m 52.75s from Wanganui this month.

He said after the race that he had had the perfect build-up for the Games and was in the best form of his career.

Kenya's three representatives in the Games 1500m will be Harun Keitany, who won the Kenyan trial in 3m 41.83s, Alex Kipchirchir and Churchill Kipsang. None of the three are ranked in the top 25 in the Commonwealth.

Willis' fastest 1500m time from last year is 3m 32.38s.

There are several reasons for most of the Kenyans not being at the Games. The Kenyan administrators insist that their runners must return home for the Games trials if they want to make the team. Most are scattered around the world, mainly in the United States and Europe.

The world indoor athletic championships are in Moscow a week before the Games, with the attraction of US$50,000 ($75,444) for the winner of each event.

The world cross-country championships, where the Kenyan and Ethiopian runners invariably dominate, are to be held in Fukuoka, Japan in early April.

New Zealand's two other representatives in the Games 1500m are Adrian Blincoe and Paul Hamblyn.

Their hopes of making the final have also been enhanced.

Blincoe moves up the rankings to seventh with a time of 3m 35.50s from last year and Hamblyn is at 11th with 3m 38.07s.