Athletics: Record run puts Willis in Games' frame

Winning the Cooks Classic Mile in Wanganui earlier this year has set the scene for a record-breaking run in the Czech Republic this week by Nick Willis. PHOTO/FILE

Top Kiwi athlete Nick Willis has silenced his critics in emphatic fashion by breaking John Walker's 31-year-old national 3000-metre record.

Wanganui athletics expert Alec McNab said some people in the sport were saying Willis was getting too old and was past his prime, but those sentiments were put firmly to bed when the runner clocked 7:36.91 in finishing third on Tuesday morning at the latest IAAF World Challenge meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

"As you can see," McNab said, "he is in prime condition in the lead-up to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games next month.

"Just last week he went within a whisker of breaking John Walker's mile record finishing just .75 of a second adrift - that's great form."

Yesterday Willis knocked 0.58 seconds off the mark set by Walker, recorded in London in September 1982 - a year before Willis was born.

US-based Willis, the 2006 Commonwealth 1500m champion and 2008 Olympic silver medallist over the same distance, lowered his personal best for the 3000m by 3.71 seconds, eclipsing his previous best time of 7:40.62 last July in Zagreb, Croatia.

The Wellington-born runner has had a long association with Wanganui, regularly supporting the annual Cooks Classic and acting as a mentor for young visiting athletes.

"The personal best mile and his first sub 3.50 mile last week in Oslo followed by that impressive New Zealand 3000m record was great to see," McNab said.

"Nick attended two Young Olympian Camps when still at school and he has returned as a mentor and has spoken to the group on many other occasions.

"The latest was during the Young Olympian Tour in Wellington this January."

The 31-year-old now returns to his base in Michigan to continue his preparations for Glasgow, where he will seek to win his third successive 1500m Commonwealth Games medal.