Gillick to focus on European Championships

David Gillick will bypass the business end of the indoor season and concentrate instead on the European Championships in Gothenburg next August.

The European Indoor 400-metre champion was speaking at yesterday's announcement by the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI) of their international programme for 2006, where Gothenburg is clearly the highlight.

Despite fond memories of his indoor success in Madrid last March, Gillick believes it ultimately hindered his outdoor campaign, a back injury eventually forcing him to miss the World Championships in Helsinki.

He will use a few indoor races as part of his training, but he definitely won't be targeting the World Indoor Championships, which are set for Moscow from March 10th to 12th.

"Winning in Madrid was fantastic," said Gillick, "but it hurt me later in the season, definitely. I've since realised that no 400-metre runner has managed to combine a good outdoor season with a good indoor season. So everything about next year is being geared towards Gothenburg, and that will mean missing the big indoor races.

"It's still possible we could have a relay team for the indoors, and that's something I would consider. But it won't be a priority. In fact I'm planning on going to South Africa early in the new year for warm-weather training, so I won't even be around for a lot of the indoor season."

At 22 Gillick remains one of the brightest hopes for Irish success in international athletics. His gold-medal run in Madrid, coming on the same evening Alistair Cragg struck gold in the 3,000 metres, turned out to be one of the few high points of the past year. Cragg, like Gillick, ended up missing the World Championships, and Liam Hennessy, the international secretary of the AAI, didn't mince his words when reviewing Helsinki.

"We were very poor," admitted Hennessy, "no question about it. There are circumstances we could hide behind, but the fact is we didn't come close to fulfilling expectations. But unfortunately some of our other success wasn't fully credited. Such as gold and silver in the 1,500 metres at the European juniors (Colin Costello and Danny Darcy), as well as five medals at the World University Games, and our best ever European Youth Olympics.

"Looking at 2006, the World indoors in Moscow are a little unclear at this stage, and the World Cross Country, because it's in Japan, will definitely be approached differently. Things also slacken off a little in the underage competitions. So the main focus is definitely Gothenburg."

There are obvious reasons why the AAI are targeting the European championships, which run from August 7th to 13th. The standard at World Championship level has gone beyond the range of many Irish athletes, but it's way different at European level. So far 29 athletes have qualified from this past season (12 men and 17 women) and that number is sure to grow next summer. Gillick and Cragg as well as Derval O'Rourke, Gillian O'Sullivan, Adrian O'Dwyer and Peter Coghlan (plus Sonia O'Sullivan, if she decides to run the marathon) could all be deemed medal contenders. Either way, the AAI are intent on sending as many athletes as possible.

Gothenburg will also mark the first major championships of the AAI's new high-performance plan, which has been designed around squads ranging from youth, junior and development to senior and elite. High-performance manager Elaine Fitzgerald explained the background to the new system.

"We have reshaped the whole programme, and it starts with the squads," she said. "It allows us to develop full series of squad coaching sessions, and also means we're integrating the system a lot better. But ultimately we are looking to tighten things at the top, and broaden the base of athletes we work with."

The high-performance grant system, which caused much controversy this year when several leading athletes were left off it, is also being reviewed with the Irish Sports Council, and if approved will give the AAI greater control over the athletes they believe deserve grant aid.

All these plans, however, are assuming the blueprint for Irish athletics is approved at the special congress on December 3rd.

Back on the competition front, the first major event of the new season will be the European Cross Country, set for Tilburg in the Netherlands on December 11th. With Cragg recently confirming his participation (and in excellent shape) that could easily mark a winning start.