Irish sprinter looks back at the successful defence of his European indoor 400m title in Birmingham in March 2007

Before that year, I was a full-time student in Dublin and training in the evenings. Looking back, you could probably argue that athletics was more of a hobby at the time, as opposed to something that I wanted to make a career out of.

But I moved to Loughborough and everything changed in terms of my approach to training. Now, I was in an environment where it was all on my doorstep. I could literally walk to training, come home, grab something to eat and go back for a session in the afternoon. 

I was doing a Masters as well, but the main reason I went to Loughborough was that I wanted to give running a go. I wanted to really see what I could do with a full-time approach.

It probably added a bit of spice at that point. “You’ve made a move, you’re in a new environment, training with better athletes … is this going to work?” The initial plan was not to guarantee or confirm that I’d do indoors in 2007 and just see how the winter progressed. 

Training was going well. I had a great benchmark from working alongside Martyn Rooney. If I was staying up with him, I knew I was relatively in good shape so by the time January came around, my coach Nick Dakin said: “Let’s see where we’re at.” So we found a race in Düsseldorf.

I broke the Irish record and it was a massive relief that everything, all the decisions I’d made, it was all working. I thought I’d try and defend my [European Indoor] title. I went: “Let’s go to Birmingham.”

I got a taxi there. I wasn’t going to go in the day before or two days before and sit in the hotel and think about my races. I wanted to stay in my own bed. It’s one of the joys of having a championship on your doorstep.

With the 400m, you’re looking at two rounds in one day. That’s always a challenge. I was strong – more a 400m-600m athlete, as opposed to a 200m-400m athlete – and I had done a good bit of work. I was riding a wave of confidence because I knew I was in form. 

I wasn’t looking too far ahead. It was very much about the first round. You’ve got to attack the first 200m and put yourself in that position to own that race and own that lane. If you don’t set up your championship from round one, particularly in a 400m, you’re then liable to get poor lanes and poor draws. 

I knew who the heavy hitters were. Because I had posted the fastest time in Europe that year, I knew I’d be seeded so that gave me a bit of confidence just to go out and run my own race and tick that box. Then it’s a case of getting back to the hotel, get your massage, get your recovery and start it straight away when you come off the track. 

Sometimes after a race, you have those nice few moments where the nerves are gone, and then you start talking to people. Before you know it, you’ve spent an hour talking nonsense. I was very disciplined on that. I got out of there. 

To do back-to-back runs in a short space of time can be physically but also emotionally demanding so you have to manage that and manage the people around you. There’s a process.

I’d already raced Bastian Swillims, the German athlete, in Düsseldorf and I beat him. He’d improved since then and I knew he was probably going to be closest to me. I watched him in the first semi and he ran 45.92. It was quick. I thought: “S***, I’m going to have to up my game.” 

I got a text from the team manager saying the lane draw was out and I was in lane five. I remember thinking: “Yes, I have him” and it’s great when you get that nice and early because then you can really plan your race. There’s an element of visualisation.

In the final, Swillims went off really hard through the first 200m. Johan Wissman and Rob Tobin were there as well. I had to make sure that I was second at the bell. I chopped Wissman. This all happens in 400s. It’s rough and tumble, you have to sharpen the elbows. Then I could try and get as close to Swillims as possible. I was going down the back straight, telling myself to get on his shoulder.

On the top bend, I was thinking: “Will I go? No. Hold on.” Then I attacked over the last 50 metres. It was close, just a tenth of a second in it, but you look for that momentum. I probably gained a centimetre at one point but it was enough to drive me to get him with a time of 45.52.

Sometimes when I was asked what my best race was I’d say coming sixth in the World Championships final in 2009 but that has changed as time has passed.

The thing that I dreamt of as a kid was doing a lap of honour and getting on the podium. I watched on TV when the likes of Sonia O’Sullivan and others were wearing an Irish vest. The sweetest times in my career are those moments when you win a championship. You win a race that means an awful lot. 

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Championships are few and far between and the one in Birmingham sticks with me because there’s something about winning when you’re going in with that level of expectation and pressure. 

I’d made a lot of changes there and you’re always going to get people thinking “why is he doing this? Should he have gone here and not there?” but I backed myself in terms of that decision. 

To come out in a championship, fairly soon after making those life-changing decisions, and to win in a really good time as well, that is probably one of the things that really gives me a lot of pride. I was able to perform at my very best when it really mattered.