Silver sheen for Sonia as Radcliffe demolishes field

Sonia O'Sullivan raced into the record books again last night, claiming a European silver medal in the process, but could only watch from behind as Paula Radcliffe stole Ingrid Kristiansen’s 16-year-old European 10,000m title and came within a whisker of becoming only the second woman to beat the 30-minute barrier.

Adding European gold to the Commonwealth Games title she won less than two weeks ago, Radcliffe ran a sensational 30:01.09.

O'Sullivan smashed the national record with a 30:47.59 run, yet still finished almost 300m behind the winner.

"It is a funny kind of feeling really," O'Sullivan said.

"You set a national record, you win a medal but there's no elation or anything like that when you don't win the race and somebody finishes 300m ahead of you," she said.

"In fact, you get a little bit concerned as to why you are not up there.

"I think Paula has been through the 10,000m a lot more times than me and I suppose she obviously got it down to run hard like that on the track.

"I am a bit more of a racer than a pacer and I have always shown that over the years.

"I feel I can run about 14:30 and somewhere close to 30 minutes, but it needs to be a real race and it was just hard out there tonight."

Radcliffe decimated the field with a sub-70-second opening lap, then a 73, then sub-72 laps, before she settled into a rhythm at sub-73.

O'Sulllivan and former Olympic champion Fernanda Ribeiro stayed in touch but the Portuguese runner walked off the track with 11 laps remaining after struggling to maintain contact with a chasing group.

Asked if anybody would have beaten Radcliffe in that kind of form, O'Sullivan said: "Maybe the Chinese back in 1993. I don't know, the Ethiopians always give her a good run for it in the championships. It is hard to tell.

"I tried, but I think I am not as good as her in concentrating for 25 laps and I think I needed to be a bit more tactical, maybe play a few games early on, to be in with a chance.

"With about five laps to go, I thought she was going to lap me. I thought I had better pick it up. I felt her coming and the crowd was getting really excited and I thought at that time she was going to lap me.

"I looked at the clock when Paula crossed the line and I thought I could get inside 31 minutes. So I ran a 66-second final lap."

The Cork woman said she would run another race here but did not know if it would be the 5,000m, fuelling speculation that she would drop back to 1,500m.

She is now fourth on the European all-time list and she said she was delighted with her silver medal.

"Okay, I am not happy she finished that far ahead of me, but I am glad I ran and that I got the medal. Silver medals are to be collected. They are not to be thrown away."

Radcliffe made her no secret of her delight at adding the European gold to her Commonwealth gold, and celebrated her European record.

But she admitted she was disappointed she did not run under 30 minutes.

"I went out too fast at the beginning to break 30 minutes," Radcliffe said.

"I would have been happier if I had run 29:59, but then it was important to break the record and that's what I did. In fact, I went out there to win the race," she said.

Ireland's Marie McMahon Davenport finished 17th in 32.35.11, and Anne Keenan Buckley was 26th in 33.19.94.

Earlier, Robert Heffernan finished eighth in the 20km walk with string of world-class athletes behind him.

Heffernan's finishing time 1:21.10 was outside the national record he set at 1:20.25 in Naumburg earlier this year.

But it was the overall performance that mattered this time, when the field included most of the world's best race walkers.

"I went to the front early and maybe that is where I showed a little bit of inexperience," he said.

"I tried to push on the pace and, to be honest, I was not feeling good. I really should have sat in a bit more but I have not found myself in that position up in the front in a major championships before. But, having said that, I felt strong enough to do it.

"On a better day, things might have been better. I had a good old battle with Gandellini. He was ninth in the world championships and he was fifth in the world championships the year before that, so he is a strong competitor."

A frustrating season for James Nolan was reflected in his performance in the semi-finals of the men's 1,500m, when he finished eighth in 3:48.48.