Just in the nick of time for Willis?
Nick Willis dearly wants to put the exclamation point on his storied athletics career by competing in his fifth Olympic Games in Tokyo in little over a month’s time.
But to get there the 38-year-old two-time Olympic medallist is going to require a little bit of luck as heads into the final week of what shapes as a nerve-racking selection countdown.
Here’s where Willis sits ahead of the July 29 global cutoff for Olympic invitations: he is 46th on World Athletics’ Road to Tokyo list which takes in athletes who have met the entry standard and then ranks those that haven’t based on performances over the selection period.
The 1500 metres in Tokyo will include a field of 45 athletes.
‘‘It’s touch and go,’’ says Willis’ brother Steve, who is also Athletics NZ’s distance coach for the high performance programme.
‘‘He needs things to fall his way over the next week or two for him to get there.’’
Willis was not quite able to make the move he had hoped in a quick trip to Europe to fit in a couple of 1500m races, posting a slow 3min 42.01sec in finishing ninth in Sweden and then backing that up with 3:38.59 to come in fifth in Prague. The Olympic qualifying standard is 3:35.00.
That saw him slide from just the right side of the cutoff to just the wrong side when World Athletics’ Road to Tokyo rankings were updated this week.
But Steve Willis says his brother is not without hope. It is likely there will be some athletes ahead of him who will be withdrawn to compete in the 5000m in Tokyo. And there could yet be injuries that force others to pull out.
Just how many of those there are will not be known until a week or two after the selection cutoff.
On the other side of the coin there is the possibility of some Olympic universality spots being offered in the 1500m which might take away a spot or two. And some athletes below him on the rankings could make a move in the next week or so. Again, he will have to play a waiting game on that.
The tricky part is that with the US Olympic trials just about to get under way and other countries conducting their own national championships, there are extremely limited opportunities for top racing in the next week or so that would carry significant ranking points.
Willis, who is based in Michigan, missed out on the world championships in Doha in 2019 in similar circumstances and will be hoping that this time the cards fall his way.
‘‘He’s going to continue training hoping he gets the nod, but it is what it is,’’ added Steve Willis.
‘‘If he can get there he can still be competitive, because the racing becomes very tactical and often comes down to the last 300 metres.
‘‘He just hasn’t quite found the form he was hoping to and has been forced to chase ranking points as opposed to focusing on preparing.’’
Willis has shown an ability to excel in the pressure environment of rounds racing at the Olympics, coming through to take an eventual
silver medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing, and then grabbing a shock bronze in Rio eight years later.
Willis has already been selected in the New Zealand team for the Games, but must meet the global body’s invitation criteria to get there.
If he does go to Tokyo he would become the first Kiwi male to compete in athletics at five Olympics.