Sonia O'Sullivan has confirmed she would make her first serious attempt at a marathon in New York on November 3rd.
It had been rumoured on the athletics circuit for months that the Corkwoman would compete and O'Sullivan finally announced her participation today.
"I am definitely going to run the New York marathon, I have been training for it and looking forward to it," she said. "I'm really excited by the whole idea of the marathon, that's one of the reasons I chose New York.
"I love that there are a lot of Irish in New York and I expect them to be cheering for me and that will give me great motivation," she said.
The 32-year-old won her only previous marathon two years ago in Dublin in two hours 35 minutes and 42 seconds after deciding to run the day before the race.
"I know that when I ran in Dublin there was no pressure, I could have stopped anytime, no one even knew I was in the race," she said.
O'Sullivan, who returned to racing in March three months after the birth of her second daughter, won silver medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 at the European championships in Munich in August.
She will join Kenyans Lornah Kiplagat and Susan Chepkemei and American Marla Runyan in one of strongest women's fields in the history of the 32-year-old race.
Kiplagat stripped six seconds off the Irishwoman's 10-mile world record on Sunday in Amsterdam.
O'Sullivan has not set a target time for herself in New York, but is confident she will be in the running for the winner's prize of $80,000 and a new car.
"I don't want to set a time for myself, I want to run faster than I ran before," said O'Sullivan, who will test her fitness at the Great North Run half-marathon in England in two weeks.
"If you are competitive and involved in the race then the time will come."
O'Sullivan said her determination to establish herself among the marathon elite does not mean she has abandoned the track for good.
"Absolutely not, if anything one of the big reasons is after seeing what Paula [Radcliffe] did this year after running the London marathon," said O'Sullivan.
"After the marathon training she was able to come out and run better than ever on the track and I don't see why I can't do that."
This year's New York marathon is expected to attract over 30,000 runners and 2.5 million spectators.