Latest news from Loughborough University
| 13 March 2007 | PR 07/30 |
Gillick named European athlete of the month for February
Loughborough University student David Gillick has been named the European male athlete of the month for February.
The 23-year-old Gillick, who moved to Loughborough to train with the University’s director of athletics coaching Nick Dakin, clocked an Irish indoor record 45.91 seconds for the 400 metres at a meeting in Dusseldorf on February 6. It was also the world’s leading mark at the time.
He then successfully defended his European indoors 400m title in a new Irish record time of 45.52 seconds when he ran down Germany’s Bastian Swillims on the final bend at the championships in Birmingham earlier this month.
The time is the second fastest indoors in the world this year.
Gillick beat Greek long jumper Louis Tsatoumas for the award while Olympic champion high jumper Stefan Holm of Sweden was third.
World and Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva from Russia won the women’s award after she set a new world indoors record of 4.93m on February 10 in Donetsk in Ukraine.
The monthly award, which began in January, is voted for by the public and media.
Ends
For all media enquiries contact:
- Greg Stutchbury, Sports PR Officer
T: 01509 228686, E: G.M.Stutchbury@lboro.ac.uk
Notes to editors
Loughborough has an established reputation for excellence
in teaching and research, strong links with industry, and unrivalled sporting
achievement. Assessments of teaching quality by the Quality Assurance
Agency place it in the top flight of UK universities; the National Student
Survey ranked Loughborough in the top five among full-time students; and
industry highlights the University in its top five for graduate recruitment.
Around 40% of Loughborough’s income is for research, and 60% for
teaching. The University has been awarded five Queen's Anniversary Prizes:
for its collaboration with aerospace and automotive companies such as
BAE Systems, Ford and Rolls Royce; for its work in developing countries;
for pioneering research in optical engineering; for its world-leading
role in sports research, education and development; and for its outstanding
work in evaluating and helping to develop social policy-related programmes.