O'Sullivan can bounce back to take title

As the world of distance running headed to Belgium yesterday, all talk was about the weather. Recent years have seen world championship courses too often land in warmer climes, but one thing certain about this weekend's event in Ostend is a return to the more traditional cross country elements of mud and rain.

For Sonia O'Sullivan, however, the main concern was a head cold that has bothered her final preparations. She delayed her trip by 24 hours and arrived from London yesterday evening, confident that a five-day course of antibiotics has put the problem behind her.

Neither that scare nor the poor experience in the World Indoor Championships a fortnight ago has diminished her intention on winning tomorrow's short course race. Irish interest in this event may have been reduced somewhat with the foot-and-mouth outbreak but all winter long this has been the title O'Sullivan wants to win.

Anyone with even a passing interest in O'Sullivan's career will know that she has this uncanny knack for a ruthless return to form shortly after some sort of competitive setback. She cut a lonely figure in the 1997 event and came out the next year and won both titles. Just last summer she looked dangerously flat in London a couple of weeks before leaving for Sydney, and turned that form around with an Olympic silver medal.

It's no surprise then to hear O'Sullivan insist that Lisbon is behind her. "The only thing to do is go well the next time out," she says, and that's as good as saying look out, here comes something completely different.

O'Sullivan may, strangely enough, get a preview of two of her main rivals in this afternoon's long course race. Both Britain's Paula Radcliffe and Ethiopia's Gete Wami have made the 8km race their priority (which won't feature title-holder Derartu Tulu), and they are also in position to come back for tomorrow's shorter distance. Wami appears most capable of pulling off the double and if Radcliffe fails to win the longer title, expect her to be pushing the pace too.

With defending champion Kutre Dulecha out through injury, fellow Ethiopian Ayelech Worku - fourth in the Olympic 5,000 metres - is set to lead the African challenge. Rose Cheruiyot of Kenya will be another threat, and she was among those well clear of O'Sullivan's 15th position in the short course race in Vilamoura a year ago.

The conditions will also play a role. The course at the Wellington Hippodrome - almost entirely flat - has soaked up a lot of rain over the last few days and although it is well drained, it clearly won't be the track-like surface that O'Sullivan used to her advantage when winning in Morocco three years ago.

Wet and slippery ground didn't prevent her from winning the national title way back in 1987, but time has moved on, and any sort of gap in soft conditions is a lot harder to close. But if she is within reach near the finish then this race is most certainly hers for the taking.

Unfortunately, the chances of an Irish team medal have been greatly reduced with the late withdrawal through injury of Rosemary Ryan. She displayed a new maturity when winning the national title last month and would have been pushing for a place close to the top ten. Ethiopia appear unbeatable, and with no replacement for Ryan, it will take a superlative performance from the likes of Anne Keenan-Buckley and Una English for the Irish to get in the top three.

The Irish senior men have decided to target tomorrow's long course race, and national champion Seamus Power was smiling more than most when he saw the course here yesterday.

Keith Kelly and Vinnie Mulvey, both US based, will make their senior championship debut are likely to figure among the four team scorers. The very least they'll be hoping for is an improvement on the 16th place out of 26 teams in Vilamoura last year.

Kenya are seeking a phenomenal 16th senior men's team title in succession and even the absence of five-time winner Paul Tergat (who is concentrating on the London marathon), no one seems capable of stopping them. Favourite for the individual honour, however, is Belgium's own Mohamed Mourhit, who despite being Moroccan-born, enjoys a huge following in his adopted country.

Gareth Turnbull and Fiachra Lombard are entered today's short course race as individuals, but that too is set to become a display of East Africa's continued dominance of world distance running. And if anyone needs reminding, O'Sullivan is among the few truly capable of breaking that mould.