Fionnuala Britton cut a frustrated figure when she finished fourth at the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade yesterday, but vowed to bounce back from this disappointment.

Three top-10 finishes for Ireland once upon a time may have been a cause for celebration coming out of a European Cross-Country Championships.

While Fionnuala Britton heads to tomorrow’s 20th European-Cross Country Championships in Belgrade in search of a hat-trick of titles with customary quiet steely resolve, her bigger ambition is to ultimately join the likes of Sonia O’Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan as Ireland’s greatest distance runners.

Fionnuala Britton’s decision to abandon the track this summer will not hinder her bid for a third consecutive European cross-country gold, believes Catherina McKiernan.

Fionnuala Britton’s manager, Ian Chaney, insisted she will be focusing purely on her training, with media contact at a strict minimum, upon yesterday’s announcement of the Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on December 8.