24 Mar 2012

Willis eyes Olympic double

12:23 pm on 24 March 2012

Olympic silver medalist Nick Willis stepped into relatively unfamiliar territory to capture his second 5000 metres title at the New Zealand track & field championships at Waitakere.

Running his final race before returning to the United States this week, the 1500 specialist turned out over the longer distance, partly to break up his heavy training load and partly to test the waters for a possible double at the London Olympics later this year.

While the time was still 27 seconds slower than both his personal best and the Olympic qualifying standard, Willis says he's in great early-season fitness.

Willis has only run a handful of 5000 races during his career and is keen to double up at London and has already targeted a couple more opportunities to qualify over the coming months.

But he says if his training is not going 100 percent or he has the slightest injury he won't pursue it as the 1500 is his priority.