SONIA O'SULLIVAN may not defend the 5,000 metres title she won at Gothenburg two years ago, when the world track and field champion ships take place at Athens in August.
Instead, she is targeting the 1,500 metres as her big objective in the showpiece of a season which offers the chance of rehabilitation for those who came to grief in Atlanta last summer.
On a fleeting visit to Dublin yesterday to promote the national BLOE championships sponsored by Capri Sun, O'Sullivan spoke of the attraction of the 1,500 metres event.
"I've already won the 5,000m title, so it's not really surprising that the 1,500 should now appeal to me more," she said. "Besides, it's a better event."
The reasoning behind that latter statement wasn't immediately clear, but she went on to say that at this point, the only 5,000 metres race on her European programme is at Oslo in the first week in July.
Her first competitive race of the outdoor season will be at Oregon and before travelling to Oslo, she plans to race over 1,500 and 3,000 metres. Although her itinerary has not yet been finalised, she plans to run no more than three races between the Grand Prix meeting in Oslo and the world championships.
Part of the reasoning presumably, behind her decision to concentrate on the shorter distance at Athens is that she judges the opposition to be marginally less intimidating over 1,500 metres.
That may or may not be true but given her record over the last few years, it is inconceivable that she will not give further consideration to the prospect of undertaking a double programme in Athens.
Because of the timetable, this was not logistically possible in Gothenburg two years ago but while some of the problems are constant, it is marginally more attainable. Not until the final stages of her preparation, however, is she likely to make a final decision on her programme.
Since returning from the world cross country championship at Turin, O'Sullivan has been taking it easy at her London base where swimming and cycling, two of her other sporting interests, have been making most of the demands on her time.
That is unlikely to change much when she goes back to Philadelphia next Sunday but by the last week of the month, her preparations for the new track season, will already be under way.
Meanwhile, O'Sullivan, who reminded her audience yesterday that she didn't win a national BLOE title until she was almost 15, confessed that she was happy to be back among old friends before embarking on possibly, the most critical season of her career.
