Sonia O'Sullivan's preparations for the European championships were in disarray in Sheffield last night, after an unexpected defeat by Paula Radcliffe over 3000 metres.

Radcliffe, comprehensively beaten in the world cross country championship earlier in the year, was savouring a rare success over the Irish runner after finishing alone in a time of 8 mins 38.84 secs.

This was some way outside her career best figures for the distance and more than 10 seconds slower than the time O'Sullivan recorded at last month's Grand Prix meeting at Nice.

The element of shock was heightened by the fact that Radcliffe, who challenges for the 10,000m title in Budapest, had only returned from altitude training in the South of France on Friday and was thought to have little chance of winning at 3000 metres.

As it transpired, her victory was more emphatic than even she dared hope. After running alongside Radcliffe over the first 600 metres, O'Sullivan swiftly dropped through the field and by half way, was already 15 metres adrift of the leader.

Radcliffe was timed at 6 mims 19.55 secs at the 2200 metres mark and at that point, looked set for a career best performance. Gradually, however, the strain of front running, told on her and a second last lap of 71 seconds, effectively ruined her hopes of a fast time.

O'Sullivan, who at one point faded to third place, picked up the tempo briefly on the last lap but it was no more than a gesture of resistance on a day when she was never moving with any real fluency.

Radcliffe, responding to the support of the Yorkshire crowd, covered the last circuit in 68.3 seconds, fast enough to ensure that she didn't have to worry about anybody coming out of the pack to challenge her.