THERE was contrasting news for Sonia O'Sullivan and Niall Bruton, two members of Ireland's World Championship squad, as she athletes assembled for this evening's Cork City Sports at the Mardyke.
O'Sullivan arrived home from London to confirm that despite two unexpected defeats at Paris and Nuremberg in recent weeks, her preparations for Athens are on schedule. And she hopes to illustrate the point for her supporters in a 2,000 metres race which has been specially framed for an athlete who is doubling up at 1,500 and 5,000 metres in the World Championships.
Normally, Bruton's preparations for the 1500 metres championship would be similarly advanced but the latest medical report on the talented Dubliner is far from encouraging. After missing several races because of a hip injury, he has again been forced to bypass Cork and so finds time running out in his attempt to regain fitness for the world tests.
"With less than six weeks to go to the championships, it's beginning to get a bit worrying but I'm still hoping that somehow it's going to come right for me," he said. "I am scheduled to run in a mile race at Sheffield a week on Sunday, and if I make that deadline, it's just possible that I'll be fully fit and running well in the first week of August.
"The problem first surfaced during warm-weather training in America and unknowingly, I aggravated it by running in Tullamore last month. That was a painful lesson in trying too much too soon and while the 1,500 metres race in Cork will be a bit special, I just cannot afford to risk another setback at this point".
If Bruton's absence is regrettable, the inclusion in the field of Marcus O'Sullivan will ensure a huge local interest in what will almost certainly be his farewell appearance in his home city.
O'Sullivan's career has long since passed the point where championship success is attainable but he is still an immensely popular runner whose last year on the Grand Prix circuit will be viewed with a lot of interest.
Mark Carroll, who last week achieved a European 5,000 metres qualifying standard with a 13 minutes 27 seconds run, is also in a field which includes two Kenyans, David Kibet and Lukas Morogo.
Sonia O'Sullivan, the world record holder at 2,000 metres, has been virtually unbeatable at the distance in recent years but it is a measure of the changing times that the American, Regina Jacobs believes she can beat her.
Jacobs last week won her seventh American
1,500 metres title with a time of four minutes 3.2 seconds, the second fastest in the world this year, and genuinely believes that she has the pace to out-kick the Irish woman off the last bend.
Gwen Griffiths (South Africa) and the Bulgarian, Eveline Danielova, will accentuate the international flavour of the race but on a track she likes so well, it will be a huge surprise if O'Sullivan is beaten. Her recent disappointing runs over 1,500 metres can be explained to some degree by the fact that much of her earlier work was geared to a 5,000 metres schedule but now, the emphasis in training, is increasingly on speed.
That should stand to her on a night when Gary Ryan's sprinting will again be a focal point and David Matthews is offered the opportunity of re-establishing himself with a good run against Kibet in the 800 metres.
