SONIA O'SULLIVAN'S preparations for the world 1,500 metres championship ran into unexpected trouble on her first European appearance of the season in Saint-Denis, France last night. After appearing to take control of the race at the start of the last lap, the Irish athlete was caught and passed by the 30-year-old Russian Irina Samorokova over the last 120 metres.
Fresh from a recent victory in Seville. Samorokova defined the quality of her world championship challenge with a finely judged race to win on a waterlogged track in a time of four minutes 4.73 seconds.
O'Sullivan, clearly surprised by the verve of the ageing Russian's performance, was second in 4.05.43 with the young Ethiopian, Kutre Bulecha half a metre further back in 4.05.73.
Afterwards, O'Sullivan acknowledged that she had taken the lead too soon when she swept in front at the bell, followed immediately by Samorokova and Bulecha.
The 19-year-old Ethiopian had made an unexpected move shortly after halfway when, conscious of the need to minimise O'Sullivan's finishing speed, she increased the pace to open up a brief lead of two metres.
Having covered that break without undue difficulty, the expectation was the Irish woman would be content to run at Bulecha's shoulder until some 200 metres out.
Instead, she gambled on killing off the pursuit by surging with 400 metres to go. Once the Russian responded positively, O'Sullivan was in trouble. O'Sullivan, desperate to start her European schedule with a win, hung on for a spell, but with a stricken French athlete receiving attention in lane two, Samorokova kept her nerve for her biggest win to date.
The growing strength of Africa's women runners in the middle distance events was illustrated in the 5,000 in which Berhane Abere had more than two seconds to spare over her Ethiopian team-mate, Merani Denboba, when winning in 15.09.32. Spain's Julia Vaquero Soua was third in 15.12.10.
World indoor champion Hicham El Guerrouj of Morroco failed in his attempt to break Algerian Noureddine Morceli's 1,500 metres world record. El Guerrouj, who had said he would go for Morceli's best mark of three minutes 27.37 seconds set two years ago, won his race easily, but could manage only a relatively modest time of 3.31.76.
"The conditions were not ideal and the pace in the first 500 metres was too slow," said El Guerrouj, who clocked a world class time of 3.29.51 last Saturday in the Dutch city of Hengelo. "Never mind, I'll try again."
American world champion Kim Batten, wearing her trademark sunglasses despite the miserable weather, won the women's 400 metres hurdles race in 53.63 seconds ahead of arch rival Deon Hemmings of Jamaica, the Olympic champion, who was second in 54.02.
Namibian Frankie Fredericks dished out a lesson to younger sprint rival Ato Boldon when he stormed through late to win the 100 metres. Fredericks, the Olympic 100 and 200 metres silver medallist, clocked 10.09 as Trinidadian Boldon, third in the 100 at Atlanta, faded badly to finish fourth in 10.23, compared with his season's fastest of 9.89.
Rather like Sunday's much-hyped showdown between Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson on the other side of the Atlantic this clash between their two pretenders to the crown of the world's fastest man proved something of a damp squib. The usually fast track was made sluggish by intermittent rain.
Afterwards Fredericks dismissed criticism of Sunday's abortive Bailey-Johnson clash in Toronto that finished with Johnson lying injured on the track. "They had to race, they are the world record holders," he said, though he took an implicit swipe at Johnson when adding: "But we won't know who the fastest man in the world is until the (world championship) 100 final in Athens (in August)."
Merleiie Ottey won the women's 100 metres in 11.19, pipping Nigerian Chioma Ajunwa. Kenyan Moses Kiptanui led home a Kenyan clean sweep in the 3,000 metres steeplechase.
