11 Sep 2017

Willis wins 5th Avenue mile again

3:05 pm on 11 September 2017

The New Zealand athlete Nick Willis has won the 5th Avenue Mile in New York city for a fourth time.

Nick Willis crosses the line third at the Beijing Olympics.

Nick Willis crosses the line third at the Beijing Olympics. Photo: Photosport

The 34 year old silver and bronze Olympic medalist won a dramatic finish in a time of 3'51".

He was point seven of a second ahead of Briton Chris O'Hare.

Willis told NBC that his experience helped him come out on top today.

"It looked closer than it is to the finish, so if I wait and wait and wait and let them all make their moves, and hopefully I haven't gone to fifth gear by then, I can still go a little bit further," Willis said. "So I tried to use my old-man savvy today."

Willis joins Spain's Isaac Viciosa as the only man with four 5th Avenue titles.

American Jenny Simpson won the women's race for a sixth time.

Meanwhile another New Zealander Jake Robertson finished second behind British legend Mo Farah in the Great North Run half marathon in Newcastle.

Robertson finished six seconds behind Farah, who claimed the title for a fourth successive time.

Straight after the race Robertson proposed marriage to his girlfriend Magdalyne Masai, who finished fourth in the women's race, and she said yes.

"It was an amazing race," said Farah.

"Jake pushed the pace on and tried to get rid of me. He almost got rid of me, I wasn't going to tell him that, but he almost got rid of me with three miles to go because I was hurting. I just had to dig deep."