WEST KIRBY athlete Andy Baddeley's gritty display, which saw him score the biggest win of his career in the Norwich Union British Grand Prix, comes as no surprise to those who know his personal strengths. "I didn't sleep too well last night, I was so excited," said Baddeley after one of the most decisive wins by a UK metric miler for many years which raised hopes that he can head a resurgence in domestic middle distance racing. Baddeley, who destroyed 2004 Olympic bronze and silver medallists Rui Silva and Bernard Lagat in Sheffield with a lifetime 1,500m best by almost two seconds, has always possessed massive self-belief. The 25-year-old Cambridge University graduate in aerospace engineering initially continued his career despite being advised by medical experts to quit the sport three years ago. Baddeley, who initially was prevented from competing with a debilitating illness in 2001, then suffered from heart palpitations but, rather than heed the doctor's advice, he looked for a solution. "I spent a whole summer out then and lost a lot of weight. But the university athletics scene and friends there kept me involved," said Baddeley. That support saw him continue his career and after the next scare he had a chip fitted in his right shoulder to help diagnose the career-threatening problem. The 2005 World Student Games silver medallist seemed to have the problem under control when also setting a personal best of three minutes 36.43seconds later that season. But, just as he was establishing himself, the following indoor season he fell when competing over 800m at the AAA Indoors Championships breaking his wrist. Then two months later he saw his Commonwealth Games 1500m medal ambitions shattered when he accidentally tripped in the final. Baddeley, despite all of these setbacks, has never doubted his own ability and, when offered the opportunity of sponsorship by Brendan Foster to train in Australia, he leapt at the opportunity. The £10,000 investment from Foster's company Nova International saw him link-up initially in Melbourne with Craig Mottram. The Aussie powerhouse in the past few years has been a genuine white man's answer to African dominance of distance running and the winter spell, directed by Nic Bideau who coaches Mottram and other top athletes, proved to be a massive success and was instrumental in Baddeley's emergence into world class. He insisted: "It played a big part and helped me build on everything I achieved last year. Training with Craig gave me more confidence and I got great advice from Nic. Now I have the self-belief to realise that I am doing the right things." Baddeley, since returning home, has seen his career take off with lightning speed and the level of his win ahead of Silva and Lagat in the Don Valley stadium, had him dreaming of becoming a British middle distance start. | 
