O'Sullivan plays down grudge

Sonia O'Sullivan was playing down the so-called grudge race with Gabriela Szabo as she announced her plans for the rest of the season in Dublin yesterday.

Her rematch with the Romanian whom she beat so convincingly in the European Championships will take place over 5,000 metres at the Berlin Grand Prix next Tuesday but not in the nature that the athletics world has been hyping it.

"We've already had the 5,000 metres of the season," said O'Sullivan. "I don't think anybody remembers who won Berlin last year or the year before. So the real rematch won't be for another four years.

"I suppose in the past I've gone out and won maybe 20 out of 21 grand prix races but I realise I can't do that anymore although it doesn't bother me. The championships are where it matters and that's all I really think about from now on."

The meeting director in Berlin, Rudolf Thiel, confirmed yesterday that both Szabo and O'Sullivan are certain starters as well as Zohra Ouaziz of Morocco, the fastest in the world this year with 14 minutes 40.19 seconds.

Thiel will also be lining up four pacemakers to create an attack on the world record of 14:36.45, set three years ago by Fernanda Ribeiro of Portugal.

After Berlin, O'Sullivan will move on to the Grand Prix final in Moscow on September 5th. She will conclude her season at the IAAF World Cup in Johannesberg the following weekend, representing the Rest of Europe against Africa, Australasia, the Americas, Asia and the USA along with the individual cup-winners Germany and Russia and host nation South Africa.

"I've run the World Cup before although not very well so I will be looking to go there and have a good race for Europe as a good climax to the year."

Her only definite long-term plans are to again spend the winter at altitude in Australia with every hope of returning home for the World Cross Country Championships in Belfast next March. All the indications are, however, that her future lies with the longer distances in the build-up to the Sydney Olympics with suggestions of the marathon after that.

Mark Carroll, meanwhile, turned down an invitation to race in Lausanne yesterday to allow sufficient recovery from his thrilling medal run in Budapest. Instead his next outing will be over 3,000 metres at the Memorial Van Damme meeting in Brussels on Friday and then the 5,000 metres in Berlin.

"There was a small problem with my shins afterwards but it's nothing too serious so hopefully I can get a few more good races out of me this season," he said. "My base work may have gone down a bit coming up to Budapest so I'd probably run a better 3,000 metres than a 5,000 metres right now although a couple of Irish records would be nice."

The 5,000 metres mark of 13:13.02, recorded 11 years back by Frank O'Mara, is certainly well within his capabilities, as is the 3,000 metres record of 7:37.60, set nearly 20 years ago by Eamonn Coghlan. Carroll's own best of 13:13.94 goes back three years, a time he knows he can improve upon.

"All the preparations up to the Europeans were gearing towards a fast finish and that's something that worked out well. Time-wise, I'd like to get down to 13:00, obviously, and somewhere around 7:30 for 3,000 metres."

Dieter Baumann, the first European under that magical 13-minute mark, didn't figure in the 5,000 metres at Budapest, giving Carroll more reason to believe that his future is now certainly as one of Europe's top distance runners.