MOST OF us spend our days where 44 seconds count for nothing. Disappear in a flash. For David Gillick this is one of those days where 44 seconds count for everything – and may feel like an eternity. If he can make every second count then by about 8.25pm this evening, Irish time, Gillick should have a European Championship medal next to his name. He has 44 seconds to make history.

Clyde Hart, coach to world record holder Michael Johnson, always said the 400 metres was the quintessential track event – because why else would the track measure 400 metres? Indeed part of its beauty is its simplicity, but that’s not saying it’s easy to predict, or that tactics don’t play some role.

“When the gun goes, just run,” said Gillick, when we asked him his approach to this evening’s final. That might be slightly over-simplifying the task, because Gillick will also need to time his finishing surge to perfection if he’s to fend off the formidably quick Borlee twins from Belgium. Jonathan looks the most dangerous of them, having run 44.71 on route to this final – a fraction quicker than Gillick’s lifetime best of 44.77.

Crucially, Borlee will be on his inside, in lane three, with twin brother Kevin on his outside in lane six, so he’ll be able to keep a close watch on them both. Gillick starts in lane four, with the man immediately outside him being Leslie Djhone from France, via the Ivory Coast, who has run 44.46 and has an excellent record in championship finals, winning European bronze four years ago.

Kacper Kozlowski from Poland, in lane two, and the young Russian Vladimir Krasnov in lane seven, can’t be discounted – nor indeed can the two British hopes, Martyn Rooney and Michael Bingham, even with their difficult lane draws. But truth is the medals look like being decided between four lanes; three to six. Someone in there is going to be very disappointed to miss out.

“I’ve worked too hard over the winter to let all this slip by,” added Gillick. “Punched that bag so many times. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs, and you learn so much from that. I’d like to think there’s still a little more in the tank from the semi-finals. But all I want to do is run to my potential here. And I believe I have very good potential. If that gets me gold, silver or bronze I’ll take it.”

The 27-year-old Dubliner has done everything right, so far, and obviously couldn’t do anymore on his day off yesterday, following Wednesday’s semi-final win: “There are worse places to spend a day,” he said. “Barcelona is a great city, and we’re just around the corner from the beach. So I might slip on the swimming trunks and hop on in.”

Ireland manager Patsy McGonagle says he’s never seen Gillick so well prepared, mentally and physically, and that it really was a simple case of running to his potential, and after that any medal should take care of itself.

No Belgian man has won a medal at these European Championships since 1994, and that’s big pressure on the young shoulders of the Borlee twins.

At 29, Djhone is considered a little past his best, yet should be in the hunt for a medal. But the gold medal and European title really is there for whoever wants it most, and that ultimately is what might swing it Gillick’s way.

Gillick has so much driving him here, not least the disappointment of the World Indoors in March. He does have the talent and belief and the perfect lane draw. He has an extraordinary amount of work done and now he has 44 seconds to make it all count.

Before that 400 metres medal is decided, Derval O’Rourke will get her medal challenge under way in the 100 metres hurdles – and will straightaway get a fair idea of exactly how challenging she can be. Drawn in the third of four heats, O’Rourke has the current European leader Carolin Nytra from Germany a few lanes to her left. Nytra has run 12.57 this season and in the absence of defending champion Susanna Kallur from Sweden, looks like the one to beat.

The top three in each heat plus the four fastest losers qualify for tomorrow’s two semi-finals. O’Rourke shouldn’t have any problems, but to make the final later tomorrow will almost certainly require an improvement on her season’s best of 12.96. It’s under such pressure O’Rourke almost always delivers her best.

Today's schedule

(All times Irish)

6:35 50km walk – Men’s final (Robert Heffernan, Colin Griffin)

8:10 5,000m – women’s round one

9:00 100m hurdles – women’s round one (Derval O’Rourke)

9:05 High Jump – women’s qual. Gr. A/B (Deirdre Ryan)

9:20 Javelin – men’s qual. Gr. A

10:0 Heptathlon – 100m hurdles – women’s heptathlon

10:30 Shot Put – men’s qual. gr. A/B

10:40 3,000m – men’s round one

11:0 Javelin Men Qual. Gr. B

11:05 Heptathlon - High Jump – Women’s Hep. Gr. A/B

11:20 200m – women’s round one (Niamh Whelan)

17:30 Pole Vault – women’s final

17:35 110m hurdles – men’s semi-final

17:35 Long Jump – men’s qual. Gr. A/B

17:45 Heptathlon - Shot Put – women’s Hep. Gr. A/B

18:00 200m – women’s semi-final

18:25 200m – men’s final (Paul Hession)

18:35 400m – women’s final

18:50 110m hurdles – men’s final

19:00 1,500m – women’s semi-final

19:20 Hammer – women’s final

19:25 3,000m Steeplechase – women’s final (Fionnuala Britton)

19:55 Heptathlon - 200m – Women’s Heptathlon

20:25 400m – men’s final (David Gillick)

20:40 400m hurdles – women’s final

20:50 800m – women’s final

21:00 1,500m – men’s final