New Zealand runner Nick Willis has finished second in the 1500 metres at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, California, and is happy he gave American world champion Bernard Lagat a run for his money.
In this morning's run (NZtime) Willis clocked three minutes, 35.75 seconds, 0.61sec behind Lagat, also the silver medallist at the Athens Olympics.
Willis, the 2006 Commonwealth Games champion, won the event last year in 3min 35.85sec.
Although disappointed with his time, the sensation of leading Lagat around the final bend was a pleasing one for Willis.
"I ran aggressively behind Lagat and with 300m to go, I took the lead.
"I relaxed around the bend and kicked hard with 100m to go then he passed with 50m to go and I just held out," Willis told Radio Sport.
He conceded that in the past he might have shown some fear against the best runners in the world and given Lagat "a bit too much respect".
"(Now) if they are going to beat me, they are going to have to come around me." Willis was disappointed with his time today after running a good 800m which he won in 1min 47.01sec at the Len Paddock Invitational athletics meeting in Michigan last weekend.
It was less than 1.5sec outside his personal best set four years.
He was hoping for a 3min 33sec but the weather in California was about 34deg and he had not done heat acclimatisation yet, coming out of Michigan which was about 12deg currently.
He had been working on his speed and endurance and the target was to bring the two together for the Olympics where he anticipated a tactical race with a moderate pace until the last 600m.
"Whoever has the lead with 200m to go will win in Beijing so I need to run a strong back straight coming into the final bend." He had two more races in the United States -- in New York in two weeks time when he would run either the 800m or 1500m and the mile at the Prefontaine meet in Oregon.
He was targeting 3min 30sec or 3min 31sec at the Rome Golden League meet on July 11 where he expected to test his finishing power on a fast track against a fast 1500m field.
1500m result at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, California: Bernard Lagat (US) 3min 35.14sec 1 , NICK WILLIS (NZ) 3:35.75 2, Kevin Sullivan (Canada) 3:35.78 3.
