ATHLETICS: Sonia O'Sullivan arrived in London on Monday night confident of her form ahead of the World Half Marathon in Brussels on Sunday, reports Ian O'Riordan.

After three weeks of altitude training in the mountains of California, O'Sullivan feels she has progressed considerably since the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin in March.

When she arrived in California just days after winning the Balmoral Road Race, O'Sullivan suffered a minor setback through illness, and had a poor run in the Carlsbad 5km. But since then she has come through 20 consecutive days of hard training and has no fear of the challenge over the 13-mile distance - well beyond her usual measure.

Sunday's race is still something of a step into the unknown though, not least because it is her first major championship appearance on the roads. But O'Sullivan has run the distance twice before, both times at the Great North Run in Newcastle where she won in 1998.

The world title and the $30,000 award won't come easy but as the IAAF switched the event from its traditional autumn date, most of the leading contenders have stayed away, including defending women's champion Paula Radcliffe who is still recovering from the London Marathon.

Among the list of the 100-plus starters in the women's race, however, are strong Kenyan, Japanese and Russian teams. The Kenyans are led by Tegla Loroupe, a former three-time winner of the title, along with Susan Chepkemei, runner-up to Radcliffe for the last two years.

There are dangerous individuals too in Elena Meyer of South Africa, still the second fastest ever, and Belgium's favourite Marleen Renders, winner of the Paris Marathon.

O'Sullivan is the sole Irish entrant for the event, and she is clearly in the mood to add another world title to that she's won on the track (in Gothenburg in 1995) and cross country (in Morocco in 1998).

FIGURE SKATING: The French judge at the centre of the Salt Lake City figure skating controversy has been banned for three years from all competitions, the International Skating Union (ISU) said yesterday.

Marie-Reine Le Gougne and the president of her French skating federation Didier Gailhaguet, who also receives a three-year ban, were found guilty of misconduct. They are also banned from participating in the 2006 Winter Games.

Le Gougne said she was denied a fair hearing by the ISU and had been made a scapegoat from the start of the furore and would launch an immediate appeal.