Nick Willis aims for personal best

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

STILL WORK TO DO: “I haven't had that outstanding performance yet that would justify my thinking I can get to 1:44.2. That's quite a jump.” - Nick Willis

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Olympic middle-distance medallist Nick Willis is one of those eternal optimists who never says never.

But the personable Hutt Valley hero is "realistic" about his chances of beating Peter Snell's 46-year-old New Zealand resident 800 metres record in Christchurch tonight while confident of running close to his personal best.

Willis, 26, has a shot at revenge over Australians Jeff Riseley and Jeremy Roff, who beat him in the 1500m at this month's Melbourne Track Classic, when he takes to the track as the star turn at the International Track Meet.

Tonight's venue – QEII Stadium – hosted the fastest 800m run in New Zealand when Kenyan John Kipkurgat scorched home in 1min 43.91sec to win the 1974 Commonwealth Games gold medal.

Snell set a New Zealand resident record of 1min 44.3sec in Auckland in 1964.

Willis, who hopes to emulate Snell's 1962 feat by winning the 800m-1500m double at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, admitted he had the 60s' sporting legend's record in "the back of my mind" when first approached to run in Christchurch in December.

He said it always paid to "set really high" goals while remaining realistic.

Willis, who has overcome a hip injury which curtailed his 2009 season, said his fitness was now "pretty good" and he had some good performances under his belt.

"But I haven't had that outstanding performance yet that would justify my thinking I can get to 1:44.2. That's quite a jump."

But the 2006 Commonwealth Games 1500m champion is also mindful he went to the Rome Classic in 2004 needing a world-class 1500m performance to qualify for the Athens Olympics. His best effort had been 3min 36.24, but he ran a personal best of 3min 32.68 to make the Olympics cut and establish himself as a world star in the making." He knows it is "not impossible" to break Snell's record tonight, but "you've also got to be realistic".

"Something around my personal best [1min 45.54sec] would be a fantastic performance. I would be really rapt with that.

"There's three or four of us who have run similar times to that, so it should be enough to be there with 20 metres to go and then it will all come down to the dip."

Riseley, Roff and Irish 800m and 1500m champion David Campbell, who is preparing for the European Championships in midyear, will keep the Kiwi champion honest at QEII tonight.

But Willis hopes to have some "extra pep in my stride"after running "my best ever 200m in training [on Tuesday]."

Riseley and Roff flashed past him and Olympic 1500 gold medallist Asbel Kiprop in Melbourne and Willis quipped he did not want to lose again to "Commonwealth compatriots" in a Commonwealth Games year.

- © Fairfax NZ News