TWO years ago, when these championships were held in Madrid, David Gillick and Alistair Cragg stood together, an Irish flag wrapped around their shoulders, gold medals wrapped around their necks. Yesterday, there couldn't have been any more contrast between Ireland's two defending champions. After Cragg had failed to perform, trudging home to a desperately disappointing sixth position in the 3,000m final, Gillick took to the track for the 400m, smashed the Irish record with a time of 45.62 and retained his title. It was a brilliant display. And it needed to be.

Bastian Swillims had been quickest in both qualifying rounds and as they broke after the opening lap he again led. Gillick tussled with Johan Wissman, beating the Swede to second, but still lay in the shadow of the imposing German. It was a position he looked destined to fill as Swillims rounded the final bend, looking powerful and unbeatable. But Gillick has relished the various challenges here.

In beating Robert Tobin in the semi-final he needlessly risked his title, first nearly tumbling, then having a complaint lodged for his physical approach down the final stretch. But he wanted to make a statement. He wanted to show he was unbeatable.

It was that same attitude that saw him find something extra in the closing metres yesterday, clawing his way past Swillims to take a sensational win. "I tried to get off to a quick first 200 metres but he [Swillims] beat me to the break. There wasn't much else I could do, other than tuck in behind him. I just thought, coming around the final bend, I had to go for it and find something extra.

Thank God I did."

As Gillick chattered excitedly, Cragg was long gone.

By the end of the 3,000m final, the outgoing champion left the track without a word to anyone. Instead he headed for the solitude of a dressing room where the questions about his mentality must have seemed unanswerable.

He could have stayed and talked about the laborious pace or mentioned the two years hampered by niggles and knocks and a general lack of competition. But either would have been excuses. That was never going to happen, especially as Cragg himself said in recent days that this needed to be a turning point and a place where he again realised the immense talent he has at his disposal.

In the end it took 8:03.7 for everyone else to realise he's forgotten how good he is.

That was a time that left him over a second behind gold medallist Cosimo Caliandro of Italy, and over 10 seconds off the pace he ran on Friday to qualify for the decider. By the finish few in Birmingham were surprised he hadn't challenged. While Jesus Espana of Spain ticked along at the front for the bulk of the race, Cragg was happy to sit at the back of the field as the pace dropped with every lap. He briefly made a move mid-way through but even then his surge took him nowhere near the front.

As the jostling for places began in the closing laps, Cragg remained stable in mediocrity. And when Arne Gabius of Germany picked up the tempo in the closing 500 metres, the field was stretched and Cragg was gone. In the end, Caliandro sprinted clear, winning easily in a time of 8:02.44 to take over from Cragg as champion.

There were other disappointments as well, but they were mostly drenched with positives.

Declan McCarthy was run out of his 800m semi-final in the closing strides but still continued his massive improvement of recent days, setting a personal best of 1:49.37. Then there was Anna Boyle. She may have failed to make it past the 60m semifinals but in the morning she ran brilliantly, breaking her own Irish record when finishing third in her heat in 7.30 seconds. In the afternoon she started impressively and while she didn't qualify, she didn't fade either, coming home in sixth with another superb time of 7.36.

So what of more medals today? There's a chance, although the quality in both races makes it unlikely. Paul Hession, like Boyle, broke his own Irish 60m record in the morning. His 6.61 shaved two hundredths off the mark he set in Vienna in January, while in the semis he just made it through, running 6.64 and trailing in behind defending champion Jason Gardner. James Nolan will also line up in a final today. The Offaly man ran in the quicker 1,500m semi-final, got through as a fastest loser but was still the fourth quickest overall.

Regardless of what either does, it's hard to imagine either will feel Cragg's low or Gillick's high.