SONIA O'SULLIVAN has returned to her base in London, feeling "almost totally recovered" from a tendon injury, after an extensive recuperatory programme supervised by Gerard Hartman in Limerick.

O'Sullivan, who lost six weeks training through the injury, is due to leave for Australia tomorrow, but may delay her departure to take in an awards presentation ceremony in Dublin.

The injury, unrelated to the tendon problem which effected her last year, was treated by Hartman at his clinic in Florida and later in Limerick after he returned home to spend Christmas with his family.

O'Sullivan abandoned plans to return to London for Christmas, preferring to work with Hartman whose professional services are frequently in demand by leading African and European athletes.

"In the sense that Sonia is back running without any pain, I'm delighted," he said. "In all, she missed six weeks running, but the fact that surgery wasn't necessary is a great bonus for her. She now has a phased programme to complete in Australia over the next three weeks and if she abides by it, the problem should not recur."

O'Sullivan normally has three or four warm weather races in Australia before returning home, but at this stage it seems unlikely that she will run in the world cross country championship at Cape Town in March. Three months ago, she expressed an interest in taking part in the championship for the first time since it was held in Boston four years ago.