Sonia O'Sullivan's evolution as a topclass long distance runner reached a new stage in Sydney's Olympic Stadium on Saturday when she could finish only sixth in the 10,000 metres final. In only her fourth competitive run at the distance, O'Sullivan and her small army of supporters were disappointed to discover that there are no short cuts to success in one of the track's more punishing events. At the end of a long, lonely run in the void between the leading group and the chasing pack, O'Sullivan improved her career best figures by almost 36 seconds, smashing Catherina McKiernan's Irish record in the process, when crossing the line in 30 minutes 53.37 seconds.

But it still left her some 120 metres off the pace as the 1992 champion Derartu Tulu sprinted away from her team-mate Gete Wami and the defending champion, Fernanda Ribeiro of Portugal to win in the style of a thoroughbred in 30.17.49 seconds. Played out before another capacity attendance of 110,000, it was a difficult and at times painful lesson for O'Sullivan in the demands of 10,000 metres running at this level. But in reflecting on the evening's drama she was far from disillusioned.

"I think it was encouraging for the future," she said. "Before the race, I reckoned I could run somewhere between 30 and 31 minutes - and I did. What I couldn't have foreseen was that all the other top finishers ran better than ever before. "To get to where they are, I need to find another 30 or 40 seconds improvement - and I will. But for the present, I'm going to stick with the shorter distances. I'm happier, more comfortable there. "Looking back, I'm delighted I went in the 5,000 metres here for there was a point in the summer when I had more or less decided that I would concentrate on the 10,000. Maybe if I had I would have run better on Saturday, but at least I now have an Olympic silver medal." Not for first time, a lapse in concentration cost her dearly. She ran quite comfortably with the leader, England's Paula Radcliffe for five laps when suddenly she got into trouble. And this time there was no way back. "I honestly don't know what happened - I really can't remember," O'Sullivan said. "I had worked harder on my race plan for this event than for the 5,000, warning myself to stay fully concentrated and to be with the leaders for as long as I could. "Then something happened. A gap opened, I don't know how, they got away and after that it was gone.

"That was one of the scenarios I had thought about in the days leading up to the race. I figured that if I got dropped early, I would need something to keep me motivated going round and round the track. I decided that even if I had no chance of winning, I would work for a career best performance. It was no consolation for not getting a medal but it kept me going." In fact, she still managed to hold the gap long after she had ceased to be competitive in the race, grinding out 73-second laps on her own and, briefly, threatening to close the gap with four kilometres to go. But with Radcliffe continuing to hammer it up front, that was never a realistic possibility and long before the race built to its final, enthralling climax, the Irishwoman was merely a distant spectator.

Running the only way she knows, the English athlete sought to kill off the opposition by sheer persistence but, perhaps inevitably, the Ethiopians and Ribeiro roped her in. Wami was the first to go for broke at the bell. But Tulu, fully rehabilitated after a difficult couple of years, held all the aces and with 250 metre to go she was off on her own and into the history books as a double winner.

Later Radcliffe was philosophical about her defeat. "Maybe if I had run it more conservatively I'd have got a medal but the only thing on my mind was winning it," she said. "I felt I was in condition to do so but, as it worked out, I didn't have the finishing speed to go through with it." Radcliffe said she had felt if was possible to burn off O'Sullivan. "I watched the 5,000 race and I think if the Ethiopians had hammered it at one point, she would have struggled. I took my inspiration from that."

Yet, with more experience at this distance, I believe O'Sullivan can write a vastly different script over the next couple of years. In the meantime, she'll savour the thought that at 5,000 metres, hers is still a name to imbue fear into any opposition.