SONIA O'SULLIVAN was yesterday projecting the image of an impressively-composed athlete, before setting out from her London base to continue her world championship preparations at Nuremberg this evening.
O'Sullivan's appearance in the 1,500 metres will be her first since her shock defeat by Russia's Irina Samorokova in Paris a fortnight ago, but if that ate into her self-belief, it wasn't immediately apparent.
"It was just one race in a series of races leading to the World Championships and if the result didn't greatly bother me, it shouldn't worry anybody else," she said.
"At this stage of my preparations for Athens, I'm still working on strength, with very few speed sessions. I don't deny that there is some fine tuning to be done, but there will be plenty of time for that ... The only thing that matters is that I'm running well in the first week in August and I will."
Tonight's race will be her third consecutive run at 1,500 metres - her primary world championship distance. Significantly, however, she has also taken the precaution of forwarding her name for the 5,000 metres, the distance at which she won her world title at Gothenburg two years ago.
As of now, she is convinced that the shorter distance offers her the more realistic chance of success in. Athens, but it is looking increasingly likely that she will also defend the 5,000 metres championship.
Surprisingly then, her preparatory programme for Athens includes only one 5,000 metres race in Oslo on July 4th. The remainder of her schedule is: June 21st - Cork (2,000 metres); June 25th - Paris (3,000 metres); June 29th - Sheffield (1,500 metres); July 16th - Nice (mile or 3,000 metres); July 20th - Dublin (800 metres).
A second Irish competitor in action in Nuremberg this evening will be Susan Smith in the 400 metres hurdles. Smith said she was reasonably satisfied with a time of 55.96 seconds when finishing fifth behind the Ukraine's Tatyana Kereshchuk in Moscow last Sunday, but she will now be hoping to get appreciably closer to breaking 55 seconds.
Irish athletics enthusiasts turn their attention to Talinn this evening, where a squad of male and female athletes is competing. Among those with most to prove is UCD student James Nolan who, after his controversial exclusion from Ireland's European Cup squad last week, will now be hoping to produce a big performance in the 800 metres.
Anton Burke will also be highly motivated in the high jump and, there will be a lot of interest in the performance of Ciara Sheehy in the women's 200 metres race.
Meanwhile, Coopers and Lybrand, the international accountants, are to reward all national records with an undisclosed monetary reward it was revealed at a press conference yesterday.
The scheme is retrospective to April 1st and in the interim period, three Irish records have been established. Olivia Kelleher (Limerick) set new figures for the hammer, Neil Ryan rewrote the 100 metres record and the Nenagh athlete joined with his namesake, Gary Ryan, Kevin Cogley and Tom Comyns to set a new best for the 4 x 100 metres relay at Santry last weekend.
