Athletics: Willis beating throat bug

Middle-distance runner Nick Willis has been kept away from his New Zealand teammates since arriving in Melbourne from their Gold Coast training base.

United States-based Willis has been battling a throat infection and has been staying with friends rather than in the Games Village as a "precautionary measure".

He was expected to rejoin the track team in the village last night and will remain there until he runs the 1500m heats on Friday week. The final is the following day. "Nick saw the doctor this morning and it does not appear to be anything too serious," Athletics New Zealand performance manager Eric Hollingsworth said yesterday.

"It is a strep throat infection, something he picked up when he was in Wellington."

Willis completed a solid 90-minute workout on Monday morning and another hour-long session later in the day. Hollingsworth said Rebecca Forlong showed no sign of the foot injury which threatened to keep her out of the 3000m steeplechase as she completed a "nice track session" yesterday.

Hollingsworth has now settled on his 4x100m relay line-up for the heats on Friday week: Matt Brown, James Mortimer and James Dolphin, with Chris Donaldson back as anchor.

"If this doesn't work but we still make the final we have David [Falealili] waiting in the wings."