Nick Willis closed out his brilliant Olympic career when he bowed out of the 1500m in the semi-finals today.
Willis, 38, has won Olympic silver and bronze and first ran in the Olympics in Athens in 2004. He has reached at least the semi-finals in five Olympics.
The New Zealander did what he could today. He stayed back and out of trouble until the bell when he moved forward and was in the leading bunch of 10. But the closing pace was too fast for him and the best he could manage as other younger runners stretched out up the home straight was ninth.
Willis was timed at 3min 35.41s, which is his season’s best. As he has throughout his career, he got the most out of himself. The race was won by Briton Jake Wightman in 3min 33.48s.