Sport

Sonia eyes up autumn marathon

This time the silver medal was no great consolation, the race not one for the history books

Mon Aug 12 2002 - 01:00

This time the silver medal was no great consolation, the race not one for the history books. Sonia O'Sullivan looked back on the European Championship 5,000 metres as a race gone marginally wrong, but then quickly thought about new challenges - such as the New York City Marathon. Ian O'Riordan reports from Munich

Unlike Sydney two years back, and Tuesday's effort over the 10,000 metres, there was a moment in Saturday's race when O'Sullivan had a hold on victory with both hands. As she carried it across the finish line the victory slipped, and Europe had a new champion in Spain's Marta Dominguez.

"Could we just rewind that home straight and let me run it again," was her first reaction. "I put myself in the best position possible for most of the race but I couldn't wait long enough. I needed to be a bit more patient, I suppose. I took the race on the top of the last bend and gave it away in the last 10 metres."

O'Sullivan's absence from truly competitive track running since the Sydney Olympics was no doubt part of the undoing. Yet her return to the highest level of athletics is almost complete, and after running Zurich's Golden League meeting this Friday she will next consider the option of running an autumn marathon.

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Organisers of the New York race, set for Sunday, November 3rd, were in Munich this week and negotiations with O'Sullivan have started. It will be several more weeks before a final decision is made, but there is a feeling now that the time is ripe for her first attempt at a big city marathon.

Either way, O'Sullivan will later this month spend a few weeks altitude training in St Moritz in the Swiss Alps in an effort to get back to the very top. Her hunger for championship running is as manifest as it was 12 years ago when she ran in the Europeans in Spilt, and Saturday's silver medal - her 10th at major championships since 1993 - is unlikely to be the last.

"Of course two silver medals at the European championships are something to be proud of," she added. "And to see the Irish flag going up there twice in a week. So I'm not sorry I ran both events. Maybe if I push the two silvers really hard together they might turn to gold."