Selectors will indulge Sonia

Ireland's athletics selectors are prepared to facilitate Sonia O'Sullivan if she decides to run in the European 10,000 metres championship in Budapest in three weeks' time.

The European squad is scheduled to be announced next week and the likelihood is that the reigning 3000m champion will be nominated for both the 5000 and 10,000m events.

"It's something that we hadn't previously considered but, if the athlete believes she has a realistic chance at the longer distance, we are ready to listen," said a BLE spokesman.

Valerie Vaughan is only Irish athlete qualified for the 10,000m but she has informed the selectors that she is not interested in running the distance in Hungary.

It would represent a major career switch for O'Sullivan who hinted that she may move up the scale after winning the national 5000m title in 15 mins 20.16 secs at the Morton Stadium, Santry on Saturday.

If she does, it will be her first appearance at the longer distance in a major track championship, although she won the world cross country title over 8 km in Morocco earlier in the year.

"At the moment, it's a possibility," she said. "The 5000 metres remains my real objective but, depending on how I feel, I may run in a second event."

Even after discarding her spikes for running flats, O'Sullivan was always in control of Saturday's race, running easily, yet powerfully, when she increased the tempo over the last 1500 metres. Earlier, she was preoccupied, it seemed, with the task of towing Valerie Vaughan and Anne Marie McMahon to fast times but once it became apparent that neither was in the mood to respond, the leader set out on her own, finishing the last 200 metres in 30 seconds.

"Flats are much more comfortable when running in the heat and I was anxious to try them before Budapest," she said. "They certainly didn't slow me much when I put my foot down on the last lap."

Her next appearance will be in a 3000m race at Sheffield next Sunday and she will then have one last race over 1500m at either Monte Carlo or Zurich, to complete her build up to Budapest.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee retired from competition yesterday with a subdued performance before family, friends and hometown fans. Joyner-Kersee, who won the Goodwill Games heptathlon in New York three days ago, finished sixth in the long-jump at the US Open IAAF Grand Prix in Illinois.

A crowd of 9,100 turned out to see the three-time Olympic gold medallist - 1988 and 1992 in heptathlon and 1988 in long jump - say her farewells.