European Indoor Championships 1500m Heat

In all my years and all the championships I have done whilst running for Great Britain I have never ever been in the last heat.  Usually the advantage lasts with the second one as you can see what happens and then run that bit quicker and get more through as fastest losers.

Heats are notoriously difficult and I found myself in what I thought was the tougher of the two, and once again the first!

Wolfram Muller from Germany took the race out at a comfortable pace and knowing that I could come home strong after Birmingham I was happy to sit at the back for the first 800 before making my way through the field.  With only 3 to get through by right it was always going to be difficult and when I made my move I got a little cut up by the Italian and lost some of my momentum.  One thing at this level is generally when it comes to a sprint finish everyone is pretty much going at the same speed and I did give myself too much to do at the bell, with the little contact whilst getting up to pace the race slipped away and I only managed 6^th.  However, I knew that the time was pretty quick for an indoor championship heat and so it was just a question of sitting and waiting to see what the guys did in the second race.

The other German Carsten Shlanger (who made the Olympic Semi) took the race on, and to my surprise the pace stayed at a steady 3.45 ish level.  At this pace it is pretty easy to pick up and run a mid 50 for the last 400 and come home in low 3.40’s but they still didn’t puck up and I knew with a lap to go that I was going to go through.  3.42 for a winning time surprised me but I wasn’t going to complain in making my first major final!

One thing was my throat was killing me.  Of all the venues I have run at over the world this was the driest and I was really struggling, although it is the same for everyone I suppose.  Still a good days work and I was really confident going into the final that I could be competitive…..