Sonia O'Sullivan is preparing for another big run in the Olympic 10,000 metres final on Saturday after taking the seventh qualifying place in the opening heat of the championship in Sydney this morning.
With the first eight across the line assured of going through to the final, the real issues were effectively settled at half-way when the Irish woman was among a breakaway group of eight.
After that, the purpose of the exercise was to do only as much as it took to get to the finish line safely, and O'Sullivan, who was timed at 32 minutes 29.93 seconds, said later that she was able to relax at a relatively early stage.
"Once the breakaway group had formed, it was just a question of hanging in there and doing as little as possible to save strength for Saturday," she said.
The race was won by the accomplished Ethiopian, Derartu Tulu, in 32.06.19, with Fernanda Ribeiro and Tegla Loroupe also serving notice of their title-winning potential. O'Sullivan, wearing sunglasses, showed briefly in second place during the second of the 26 laps but gradually receded back into the pack, content to be towed along by those immediately ahead of her.
The day had opened on a sensational note with the elimination of the defending champion, Svetlana Masterkova of Russia, in the heats of the 1,500 metres. Four years ago, Masterkova emerged as one of the heroines of the Atlanta Games when she capped a remarkable return to the international circuit by completing the 800 and 1,500 metres double. Now the contrast couldn't have been more stark as she was stretchered away, sobbing uncontrollably, after pulling up on the second lap clutching her ankle. Those are the kind of moments which invest sport with much of its drama. And there was pain too for Ireland's 1,500 metres representative, Sinead Delahunty, when she failed to replicate her achievement of reaching the semi-finals in Atlanta. After an agonising 10-minute wait while the official results were compiled, Delahunty learned that she had failed to qualify as one of the six fastest losers by just one-hundredth of a second.
Running in the last of the three heats, Delahunty looked likely to take one of the automatic qualifying places when she came off the last bend in sixth place behind Nouria Merah-Benida of Algeria and the world championship bronze medallist, Kutre Dulecha of Ethiopia. Sadly, she couldn't go through with her challenge, however, and as she began to tread air over the last 40 metres, so Nuria Fernandez of Spain and the Lithuanian Irina Krakoviak streamed past to condemn her to that long and ultimately heartbreaking wait for the official result sheet.
"I'm shattered," she confessed. "Tactically I did all the right things, covering the breaks and putting myself in the right positions. But in the end the lack of early pace in the race cost me. "With 120 metres to go I was pretty certain I'd go through, but half way down the finishing straight I realised I was in trouble. There was nothing left in my legs, no way I could get back in to the top six."
Delahunty was eventually placed seventh in four minutes 11.75 seconds, some two seconds behind Dulecha and Merah Benda. After fifth in her heat of the 200 metres in 23.43, Sarah Reilly was brought back in a wheelchair because of the respiratory problem which had made her a doubtful starter. With Cathy Freeman running in the lane outside her, Reilly led the Australian into the finishing straight but then tied up rapidly.
Paul Brizell's unhappy Olympics ended when he could finish only fourth in the seventh heat of the 200 metres, won by the Brazilian Caludinai de Silva in 20.70. Brizell, who was subsequently distressed physically, seldom looked like getting in a telling challenge in recording 20.98.
