Sonia O’Sullivan clocked her fastest time of the year to finish third in this evening’s women’s 5000 metres at the Grand Prix meeting in Crystal Palace.
The Cobh runner clocked a time of 14:46.97 to finish behind the winner and world half-marathon champion Berhane Adere, who out-sprinted Olympic champion Gabriela Szabo.
The 29-year-old Ethiopian, whose versatility also saw her set a world 3000m indoor record during the winter, won in a superb time of 14:33.65.
The time this year has only been bettered by the 14:31.42 achieved by Paula Radcliffe when taking the Commonwealth Games title.
Adere and Szabo - she finished in a season's best 14:34.29 - fought a neck-and-neck battle over the final three laps, and it was assumed the Romanian's superior kick would assure victory for her.
But Adere, who achieved her previous best of 14:46.89 when taking the African crown earlier this month, surprised her rival when breaking for home over the last 200 metres.
O’Sullivan virtually ran the race on her own behind the leading pair.