Sonia O'Sullivan made a winning return to the track in Australia today - just 10 weeks after the birth of her second daughter.
The Olympic 5,000 metres silver medallist easily triumphed in a low-key meeting in Melbourne's Olympic Park where Australia's 400m golden girl Cathy Freeman was continuing on her own comeback trail.
Now O'Sullivan will race in Sunday's Irish Cross-Country trials after which she will decide whether to compete in the worlds in Dublin in three weeks' time having already been pre-selected.
"Sophie was born 10 weeks ago today and I was back running within nine days," said O'Sullivan, who lives in Australia for much of the year, after clocking 16 minutes 0.94 seconds to win the Victorian Open 5,000m title.
"It is good to be back on the track. You always want to run faster but the conditions were not ideal. Another time I could have gone a minute faster."
O'Sullivan, who won by over 27 seconds, made a similar rapid return to the track after the birth of her first daughter, Ciara, in July 1999 and went on to break the world best for five miles later that year.
The 32-year-old will be looking for a repeat when Dublin stages the world championships having been forced to scrap last year's event because of the foot and mouth outbreak in Britain.
O'Sullivan, who heads back to Ireland on Tuesday, said she will be looking for a tougher race this weekend than today's victory before deciding whether to bid to regain her world cross country title on home soil.
"There should be some good competition and competition improves me a lot," said the Cobh-born runner who created history by winning double gold at the worlds in Marrakech in 1998.
"I will do the four kilometres if anything but I will decide next Sunday. Ireland will have a good team and I want to help out as much as I can.
"It will be unbelievable to compete in Dublin in front of a home crowd. They will definitely lift me, I can still remember the support I got when I competed in Marrakech."
O'Sullivan, the reigning 5,000 and 10,000m European champion who lost out in Sydney after an epic duel with Romania's Gabriela Szabo, added: "It is going to be tough because all the Kenyans and Ethiopians will be there."
PA