Win is key for Sonia

Athletics/Cork City Sports: That winning feeling has rarely been more visible on the face of Sonia O'Sullivan - or seemed as temporary, writes Ian O'Riordan in Cork

Overall, Saturday's performance over 1,500 metres at the Cork City Sports was far more relieving than convincing and certainly lacked the authority that has marked O'Sullivan's many great victories on the Mardyke track.

Yet in the context of recent events it might also represent the desired turning point in her seven-week countdown to the World Championships in Paris. Gone at least was the lethargy that saw her finish ninth over 3,000 metres in Lausanne the previous Tuesday, and another loss, in front of a home crowd, would surely have been a far more serious setback.

On the day in fact there were deeper concerns about the state of Irish athletes, and specifically the state of men's distance running. For O'Sullivan then, the narrow victory in a blanket-like finish was deservedly the high point of the afternoon.

"The most important thing for me here was to win," she admitted afterwards. "I kept meeting people coming in the gates, and I knew it was up to me to get a result. So I'm happy with that.

"But yeah, I did have to dig deep, but I was waiting a bit as well. I didn't want to go too early, because I know what it's like to have wobbly legs on the home straight."

O'Sullivan would be the first to admit the opposition was hardly world class, so with this win behind her she is targeting a couple more testing races ahead of the 5,000 metres in Paris, starting next Sunday with the 3,000 metres at the Gateshead Grand Prix. Her first major 5,000 metres will likely be in London on August 8th, although she definitely won't run in any of the remaining Golden League meetings.

O'Sullivan is still stuck in the heavy training, which included all of last month at altitude, designed to make up for time lost over the winter through injury, and her time of four minutes 9.86 seconds was a little outside the meeting record of 4:06.59 set by Geraldine Hendricken last year.

"I suppose I couldn't ask for anything better after that run during the week. But I was really concentrating on getting myself back together, and get it right here. And I'm still gearing towards the 5,000 metres, and I'll just continue to do that for the rest of the summer," she added.

"It was a risk to run in Lausanne and I took it. I was just looking for something a little more positive . . . and I felt a lot more comfortable running around there, and it was only the last 100 metres when I gave it everything I had."

For sure coming into the final straight she needed to let her foot hit the floor. Kerry's Freda Davoren was then her nearest challenger, although she did fade to sixth, allowing Wicklow's Róisín McGettigan, home from the US for the summer, to take third in a personal best of 4:10.34.

There was a welcome return to form for Gareth Turnbull, the Belfastman who has spent more time on the treatment table than the track over the past three years; he took the 1,500 metres in 3:40.18. He is now desperate to get into the sort of fast races that might bring a World Championship qualifying time.

The fastest-improving Irish athlete remains David McCarthy, who lowered his 400 metres best from 46.77 seconds to 46.48 when finishing second to Jamaican Danny McFarlane (46.07). "And that was definitely the best run of my career so far," noted McCarthy, who will next target a medal at the European under-23 championships.

Gary Ryan, who now seems like the godfather of Irish sprinting, took second in the 100 metres (10.46) and ducked and dived his way to victory over 200 metres, clocking 20.65 seconds.

Hanging over the meeting, however, was the sorry state of affairs in the men's 5,000 metres - normally a showcase of Irish talent. Dermot Donnelly of Belfast, the sole Irish entrant, ended up 13th behind a small group of Kenyans and some middle-class Europeans. Lean times indeed.