PAUL Pollock kicked off his indoor season with an impressive personal best of 7:59.57 in winning the 3000m at the BMC Indoor Grand Prix in Sheffield.
Pollock showed no sign of fatigue from his recent victory at Greencastle Road Race in Tyrone as he sat off the lead through the opening two kilometres.
He was tucked in fourth at the one kilometre marker, reached in 2:42 and had moved up to second as he followed Shaftesbury Barnet's Jack Shelley through 10 laps in 5:29. Pollock (right) took the lead with three laps remaining but could not shake off the attentions of his English rival despite lapping in under 31 seconds. In the end it came down to a sprint to the line with the Annadale Strider proving too strong for Shelley.
It was Pollock's first time under eight minutes for the distance and a personal best by more than 10 seconds. The mark is also inside the Athletics Ireland qualification standard for the European Indoors in March. "Early days but yesterday's 7.59 puts me second in the world over 3000m in 2015. Now to try and hold onto the spot for just another 11 months!" tweeted the Holywood doctor following the race. However, Pollock is far from assured of selection. Ireland are entitled to send three competitors to the championships and possibly five or six Irish athletes are capable of the mark.