England's Paula Radcliffe romped to the women’s 10,000m gold at the European Athletics Championships in Munich this evening while the defending champion from four years ago, Sonia O’Sullivan, ran her own race to claim silver.
Radcliffe made a mockery of the 27-strong field to set a new European record in a time of 30 minutes 01.09 seconds, overtaking Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen’s old record of 30:13.74, set in Oslo in 1986.
"The aim was to duck under 30 minutes, it sounds silly, but for a moment I was a little disappointed," explained Radcliffe after the gruelling run.
"However taking the lap of honour I realised what I had achieved," said the 28-year-old who thought she took off a little too quickly.
O’Sullivan was a little more subdued in the rain-soaked German arena. "Silver is good but it’s hard to be completely happy when someone finishes almost 300metres ahead of you," said the 32-year-old Cobh runner.
"I’m a little inexperienced at 10,000 but I was pleased to get something out of the race," said O’Sullivan who has the consolation of setting a new Irish record by running her fastest ever time over this distance.