Commonwealth Games: Nick Willis prepares to enhance legacy

Nick Willis celebrates winning the 1500m final at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Photo / Photosport.nz

At 34, Nick Willis continues to set the benchmark for New Zealand middle-distance running, writes Andrew Alderson.

A memento sits in the heart of a basement in Ann Arbor, Michigan that keeps New Zealand's finest runner of the 21st century striving.

It's not a medal, a trophy or any form of gong, but a gift from a friend.

The keepsake takes pride of place in the home gym, near the treadmill which allows him to train when the temperature drops to -20 degrees in America's Midwest.

It's a collage of newspaper clippings to remind him of March 25, 2006, the day he won the Commonwealth Games 1500m.

That moment propelled a lad from the Hutt Valley into the footsteps of Jack Lovelock, Sir Peter Snell, Sir John Walker, this country's middle-distance running greats.

Fans celebrated that 22-year-old's surge to gold, a sight many thought might never be seen again by an athlete in a black singlet.

Twelve years on he will return to lead New Zealand's track charge in Australia at his fourth Commonwealth Games when the event starts on the Gold Coast from April 4.

Nicholas Ian Willis first came to prominence five years earlier when - at 17 and just out of secondary school - he ran 4m 01.32s for the mile in January 2001 at Whanganui.

The questions began: "Have we found our next Lovelock, Snell or Walker?

The Herald recorded "a fleet-footed youngster has stepped up to the blocks to put the gold back into New Zealand's proud middle-distance running history".

Walker was immediately sought for comment.

"The future looks good for him. He's a lot more advanced than most other kids his age.

"[But] we don't want to lose him to an American scholarship. We've got to keep him here and look after him."

Willis disappeared to study at the University of Michigan and came under the track tutelage of Vietnam veteran Ron Warhurst, the man who mentored him to two Olympic medals.

Willis stayed and nurtured a home where he and wife Sierra welcomed their second son Darcy last month to join four-year-old Lachlan.

When the Weekend Herald spoke to Willis he was rugged up and barbecuing steak on a "warm" three-degree winter's day.

"I've spent a lot of time on the basement treadmill streaming old Youtube videos of races during winter. Watching 5km and 10km races is a great way to pass time.

His Melbourne Games 1500m triumph in 2006 remains a motivator for Nick Willis 12 years on. Photo / Photosport

"[The 2006 Commonwealth Games collage] is a daily reminder of how awesome it was getting on top of the podium and hearing the New Zealand national anthem rather than a competitor's."

This writer first met Willis while freelancing across Europe in July 2006.

He had finished ninth in 3m 34.8s amid an African-dominated field at Lausanne's annual Athletissima.

A diary entry noted: "I've never seen an athlete so physically shattered after a competition. He gave it absolutely everything and says he still hasn't mastered the issue of lactic acid which creates a massive headache that can only be relieved by barfing".

Willis agreed to an interview post-meet, giving more than half an hour of his time at 2.30am on the Lac Leman waterfront. Few professional athletes – or anyone for that matter - would make such sacrifices to chat to a journalist.

Just over two years on and he rounded the bend of the Olympic 1500m final in Beijing's National Stadium. New Zealand's 32-year medal hiatus in the discipline evaporated as he stormed from sixth to third on the home straight.

He was elevated a place when 'champion' Rashid Ramzi was exposed as a drug cheat the following year.

Willis also found a unique place in the New Zealand running pantheon with bronze eight years later at Rio.

He became the first Kiwi to earn two Games medals in the 1500m. At 33, he was also the oldest athlete to reach the podium in the event, eclipsing Kenyan Kip Keino who was 32 when he took silver at Munich in 1972.

Willis turns 35 on Anzac Day. He is the rebuttal to arguments about the detrimental effects of age on a career.

"Whenever I'm asked how motivated I am, or what's left in my body, it's hard to look beyond the next year. But when I'm in the moment during training, I'm enjoying it and the speed is still there.

"I thought this year would be when I give the 5000m a good crack but, without intending to, I just ran one of my best 400m time trials.

"The focus has been on building endurance, so my body continues to surprise me with the speed I'm allegedly supposed to lose."

Willis cites several professionals who have dispelled myths that advancing years evaporate sporting mojo.

"Roger Federer just won a 20th tennis grand slam at 36; Tom Brady's in another Super Bowl final at 40, LeBron James [at 33] is in his 15th year in the NBA.

"I'm not saying I'm those guys, but athletes are looking after their bodies more.

"It's not the old story of the All Blacks hitting the pub after the game and downing 20 beers. People now take a professional approach 24/7."

On the Gold Coast Willis will look to emulate Keino (Edinburgh, 1970) and fellow Kenyan Ben Jipcho (Christchurch, 1974) as the only male athletes to secure medals in the 1500m and 5000m at the same Commonwealth Games.

New Zealand's Nick Willis with his bronze medal during the medal ceremony for Men's 1500m in Olympic Stadium at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Photo / Photosport.nz

That is an audacious goal, but Willis has nothing to lose.

He added 1500m bronzes at Delhi in 2010 and Glasgow in 2014 to the original Melbourne gold; he tried the 5000m four years ago, finishing 10th.

That will not stop him having another go, using the Games selection criteria to his advantage.

The setting of official qualifying marks is devolved to national federations.

Willis is well inside the Athletics New Zealand standard of 3m 40s for the 1500m. He hasn't raced a competitive 5000m in the qualifying period but his 13m 20.33s best – set in May 2014 – is more than 24s inside the requirements.

"I'm not using up an additional [Athletics New Zealand] spot by adding another event. The argument was 'let's not jeopardise my chances by peaking at a championship'.

Willis says few other athletes have been granted that same freedom leading to the start line.

"A lot of the Aussies have to worry about qualifying at trials, and a number of northern hemisphere athletes will be running at the world indoors [in Birmingham] – requiring a double peak within five weeks.

"I believe those factors will put me in good stead. That's why I'm sacrificing the world indoors, where I was third two years ago, to prioritise the Commonwealths.

In the meantime Willis is immersing himself as much as he can into his expanded family before heading for races in New York and Boston, and fortnight-long altitude camps in Boulder, Colorado and Flagstaff, Arizona.

He recently contracted the 'flu which saw him and Lachlan quarantine themselves in the basement to prevent Darcy suffering the same fate.

"All of us got it except the newborn, thankfully.

"The antibodies in breast milk are pretty amazing, but that put a spanner in the works for training. After missing a week I need to get a couple of races so I don't show up to the Gold Coast without having raced in six months."

Willis has actively supported younger New Zealand middle-distance runners, a labour of love which resulted in three Kiwis – Willis and training partners Hamish Carson and Julian Matthews - featuring in the heats of an Olympics 1500m for the first time in Rio.

Carson and Matthews, alongside long-term American training partner Will Leer, have extended that camaraderie. They brought home-cooked meals to Chez Willis as a way to help after Darcy's birth.

"A lot of young talent is coming through [the New Zealand ranks], but it's tough to know whether someone can make it to the level of Hamish and Julian," Willis says.

"They are grinding it out year-in, year-out without financial support and you never know if you can get into a grand prix race.

"That's half the battle. If someone can make that jump when they are 21 or 22, that's how doors open. If you don't make that move until you're 25 or 26, you need some luck or someone to pull some strings.

"There are a lot of temptations and distractions. Are they able to avoid those while having a balanced life so they don't overdo the training?"

Willis says shot putter Tom Walsh and pole vaulter Eliza McCartney are the best examples in New Zealand at the moment.

"It's cool to see their professional approach, but they are also level-headed rather than being cyborgs focused solely on athletics."

Lovelock, Snell and Walker provide the iconic Kiwi images of middle-distance running, but Willis has been the sport's saviour in New Zealand.

Consider this as context: Willis ran his fastest 1500m during a Diamond League event at Monaco in July 2015. His 3m 29.66s time was the 26th best in history and the quickest 5th place in history. He eclipsed the personal bests of legendary Brits Steve Cram (by 0.01s) and Lord Sebastian Coe (by 0.11s).

Willis' Christian faith remains strong, something that remains paramount with his family's nomadic lifestyle.

"We need to make sure we understand there's a much bigger purpose in our lives than running circles around a track."

However, the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games is offering plenty of purpose for now, with the opportunity to add another chapter to the black singlet legacy and another potential photo collage to the basement.

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