Willis cruises into semis
At 34, and with a couple of Olympic medals tucked away, Nick Willis knows all too well the formula for giving yourself the best shot at a major championships.
And the Kiwi veteran couldn’t have scripted it better as he progressed safely to the semifinals of the 1500 metres at the athletics world championships in London yesterday.
It’s all about minimum effort expended for maximum reward, and safe passage, when it comes to making it through the rounds at these events.
Willis knows that from his dual Olympic 1500m successes (silver in Beijing in 2008 and bronze in Rio last year), and also from the not-so-stellar results at his five previous world championships where his best finish has been sixth in the 2015 final in Beijing.
The Michigan-based Wellingtonian looked well in control with a typically well-paced effort in the second of three heats at the Olympic Stadium, coming home fifth in a relatively leisurely 3min 42.75sec to easily book his place in today’s semifinals.
The heat was won by Brunei’s Sadik Mikhou in 3: 42.12, with Willis looking to have plenty in hand as he eased out from seventh with 100m remaining to stride purposefully into the next round. The top six qualified automatically.
‘‘It felt really comfortable,’’ he told reporters in the mixed zone afterwards. ‘‘All that mattered was getting through using as little possible energy.
‘‘I tried to back off from my warm-up and not do too much to get excited as the biggest challenge is getting into the race and there’s less than 24 hours before turnaround to the semifinal.
‘‘I felt a little sluggish but not tired from working too hard.’’
Willis did well to avoid a potential mishap when Dutch athlete Richard Douma took a tumble just inside him in the home straight, just as the Kiwi was making his move.
‘‘There weren’t as many guys challenging in the home straight as I thought there might be, so that was fortunate.
‘‘I expected Robby Andrews and Ryan Gregson to come flying by but they didn’t and I was able to jog it in the last 30 metres without having to fight to the line,’’ Willis added.
The main surprise of the three 1500m heats came in the opener when off-key Olympic champion Matt Centrowitz of the US tailed out last in a pedestrian 3:48.34 to miss out on the semifinals. Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman, a world indoors 1500m champion, also failed to progress.
Willis is attempting to win his first world championships medal as he nears the end of a glittering career that has also yielded a gold and two bronzes in the Commonwealth Games and a world indoors bronze last year.
At his five previous world championships, he made the semifinals in 2005, was 10th in 2007, 12th in 2011, a semifinalist in 2013 and was sixth in Beijing two years ago.
The Ron Warhurst-coached veteran, with a PB of 3:29.66 set in Monaco in 2015, and a season’s best of 3:34.74, said he was pleased with the signs at this stage of the event.
‘‘I wasn’t clicking until about 10 days ago when I did a workout that I do before my big races and that was right up there with what I did before Rio ... so that indicates things are going well.
‘‘To execute it in a race is another thing and hopefully I have enough strength to get through the three rounds at 34 years of age.
‘‘That’s probably the biggest challenge.’’ And now? ‘‘I’ve got my dinner [sesame chicken and rice and pesto pasta] ready to eat on the bus ride home, straight into the bath tub with ice and then massage and hopefully fall asleep before 3am.’’
Willis is well aware that the hard work still lies in front, with four Kenyans (Timothy Cheruiyot, Ronald Kwemoi, Elijah Managoi and Asbel Kiprop) lurking dangerously in the field.
For what it’s worth, Willis was the 16th fastest of the 24 qualifiers, a list headed by Australia’s Luke Mathews with 3:38.19.