David Gillick is an Irish international track and field athlete. David began his education in Our Lady's Boys School and attended St Benildus College secondary school in Kilmacud. He studied at Dublin Institute of Technology before moving to Loughborough University in the United Kingdom to train as a full-time athlete with coach Nick Dakin. Gillick specialises in the 400 metres and he won the European Indoor Championship in 2005 and 2007, as well as the Irish National Outdoor Championship in 2006 and 2007. He set the Irish Indoor record of 45.52 seconds in the 2007 final. The time also beat the Irish outdoor record of 45.58 and was within the Olympic 'A' qualifying standard for the 2008 Games. On 4 July 2009 he ran 44.77 seconds in a race in Madrid to set a new national record. He is also the 2009 Irish national 200 m champion.
Career
Gillick first ran for Ireland at the European Athletics U23 Championships in 2003, however it was not a successful international debut for Gillick. At the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships Gillick won a bronze medal as part of the Irish 4x400 metres relay team. Despite improving his personal best, Gillick did not qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics. When he was young he lived in Ballinteer and played football for Ballinteer St John's GAA Club. He was educated at Our Lady's National School in Ballinteer and then St Benildus College, Kilmacud. In the 2005 European Indoor Championships Gillick produced two outstanding runs to first win his heat and then win the gold medal in a personal best time of 46.30, beating the favourite, Spain's David Canal, into second place. It was Ireland's first gold medal in a sprinting event in 75 years. Injury forced Gillick to miss the 2005 World outdoor Championships. In 2006, Gillick again suffered an injury hit season but did win the Irish National 400 m Championship in a time of 45.67. He also won the Irish National Indoor 200 m Championship. He qualified with ease through the first round at the 2006 European Championships before running poorly in his semi-final and being eliminated. In October 2006, Gillick became a full-time athlete and relocated to Loughborough in the English midlands to link up with English 400 m coach Nick Dakin and a group that included a number of top British 400 m athletes. Loughborough University has a great tradition in athletics and is viewed by many as one of Europe's top sporting universities. Early in 2007, Gillick ran a time of 45.91 at an indoor meeting in Düsseldorf, a performance which made him the world leader over 400 m indoors and bettered the Irish record, previously held by Belfast'sPaul McKee. In March 2007, he successfully defended his European Indoor title, running a new Irish record of 45.52. On 4 July 2009 Gillick won at the Meeting de Madrid, which is part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour. His time of 44.77 sliced a significant amount off his previous Irish record of 45.12 to set a new Irish outdoor record. He followed this up with 2nd place at the Golden League meet in Rome. At the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in August 2009, Gillick qualified for the semi-finals of the men's 400 m after he finished second in his heat in a time of 45.54. In the semi-final Gillick placed fourth in a time of 44.88, which was good enough to make the World Championship final as the second fastest loser. In the final he finished 6th in a time of 45.53. Gillick followed up with two good runs in the 2009 IAAF Golden League meetings in Zurich and Brussels. He finished fourth in 45.25 behind world champion LaShawn Merritt in the Weltklasse. A week later, he finished fourth in 45.73 behind Jeremy Wariner in Brussels. Gillick finished the Golden League series with 30 points and finished in fourth position. In the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships Gillick was the second fastest qualifier in both the heats and semi-finals but finished 5th in the final and was later disqualified as a result of a collision with the American Bershawn Jackson with 200 metres to go. At the European outdoors that year he became the first Irishman to reach the final of the 400m where he again finished 5th.
