ATHLETICS: Waiting for Sonia O'Sullivan in the mixed zone at a major championship can sometimes be testing. You expect some emotion if her race hasn't gone exactly to plan. So after the perfect run in the heats of the 5,000 metres yesterday there was only one thing on her mind - Saturday's final, Ian O'Riordan reports from Paris.

It might be that the last time O'Sullivan passed through the mixed zone with such satisfaction was when she qualified for the final back in 1995, which she subsequently won. She knew her tactics were perfect, her old finishing speed was there, and her time, too, certainly wasn't bad.

Before yesterday no one truly knew what form she had brought to Paris - and not even O'Sullivan herself. But after taking second in 14 minutes 55.50 seconds, and leaving three of her main rivals behind her on the last lap, there can be no doubt now she can chase down a medal in Saturday's final. And perhaps even win it.

By leading out the opening laps O'Sullivan first ensured it was an honest race. She then slipped into the pack, waited until the bell lap, then moved with all her old grace and conviction from seventh position until she was safely in second place, and certain of qualification.

As a confidence-building exercise it couldn't have been better.

"I was confident that by being up front on the last lap I could definitely finish fast," she said. "I didn't want it to get rough and I didn't want to get boxed in. I wanted to give myself plenty of space for the home straight."

First home just a few strides ahead of O'Sullivan was the young Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey, previously of Ethiopia, who clocked 14:54.95. Far more significant from O'Sullivan's point of the view is that Berhane Adere, the brilliant winner of the 10,000 metres, was tiring on the last lap. O'Sullivan duly passed the Ethiopian with 150 metres to go, and she ended up third.

Also unable to contain O'Sullivan's finishing speed was her old adversary Gabriela Szabo of Romania, who seemed to suffer on the last lap and took sixth. With only the top five assured of qualification, Szabo had a nervous wait before realising her time of 14:56.70 was enough to progress to the final as one of the five fastest losers.

And the great Russian hope Yelana Zadorozhnaya was looking fairly exhausted on the line too when taking fifth in 14:56.70.

While the first heat had been won impressively by Kenya's Edith Masai in 14:45.35, helped by more fearless front-running by the Yingjie Sun of China, there was nothing between the two races to suggest O'Sullivan cannot now figure in the final.

"Well I have to go away now and think about Saturday," added O'Sullivan. "It is going to be a hard race, and it might well be faster than I've ever run before. So I know I'll have to go out there and run as hard as I can. But at some stage it always relaxes, and then just becomes a race. And when it does that's my strength."

Leading the first 2,000 metres, which she passed in 6:07.83, is not normally a strength, yet it wasn't too far from her pre-race strategy: "Well I felt fine the whole way. There is plenty of time for thinking when the race goes fast and then slow but I just wanted to go out there and run comfortably for the first few laps, then sit in behind for a while.

"I just didn't want us to crawl around out there. I wanted to make sure it was a good hard race, because I did need that to give myself a little bit of a boost. But the only time I didn't want to be there was when I was slowing a bit. And I didn't want the race to slow down. So I just figured I'd let someone else have a go. But it was great to get into a group and just concentrate, and not have to look at the clock."

Most satisfying of all for the 33-year-old was her trademark finishing kick hasn't deserted her, even if she was a little nervous about it beforehand.

"Well I'm definitely fit and feeling really good. I was quite nervous before tonight. You mightn't have seen it but inside I was. And I just wanted to get today out of the way."

And sweeping past Adere, that must have felt good? "Well I wasn't thinking about that at all. I was thinking top five, top five. At that stage I had no idea how fast we were going.

"But I definitely felt I belonged out there. It has been a while since I was going this well, because the Olympics were the last time we had heats. So I'll be there now on Saturday, and that was the important thing about tonight."

So to another major championship final. Her time was her best this season by nine seconds, and it looked so much like the O'Sullivan of old. "Well she's still in there somewhere," she said with a laugh. "A few years younger but."

Saturday's race, which goes off at 5.35 Irish time, won't feature the defending champion Olga Yegorova of Russia. Two years ago in Edmonton she won the title despite the massive controversy surrounding her positive test for EPO with a method that wasn't yet sanctioned. Last night she looked a very ordinary athlete when taking 10th in heat one, clocking 15:12.41, well short of qualification.