O'Sullivan walks off with silver

Ireland’s Gillian O’Sullivan walked her way into the history books at the World Championships in Paris today.

The 25-year-old took silver in the 20km walk to become only the third Irish athlete to win a medal at the worlds – emulating track legends Eamonn Coughlan and Sonia O’Sullivan.

O’Sullivan, whose red hair has earned her the nickname of firewoman, blazed her way to a time of one hour 27 minutes 34 seconds as Russia’s world number one Yelena Nikolayeva triumphed in a championship record 1:26.52.

“This is just fantastic,” said the UCC graduate, who finished just out of the medals at last year’s European Championships in Munich.

“I decided to settle for the silver rather than try and catch Nikolayeva. But this really sets me up for next year’s Olympics in Athens and it shows what I can achieve.

“We went off hard but I was prepared for both slow and fast races so there wasn’t any problem. There were only three of us left in it at five kilometres and though we were walking at my limits but I felt okay.

“The hardest part was around 13 to 17kms because there were constant changes behind me and I had to push all I could.

“First I thought there was an Italian behind my shoulder, then a Russian and finally the Belorussian. At that point I wasn’t sure if I could keep my position but decided to fight and try to get a medal anyway.

“I pushed it hard until I was inside the stadium, it was just then that I let go. I have done a lot of competition and have got a lot of experience and finishing fourth last year give me a lot of confidence.

O’Sullivan’s medal hopes were boosted when Russia’s defending champion Olimpiada Ivanova dropped out clutching her right hamstring.

Belorussian Valentina Tsybulskaya set a national record of 1:28:10 for the bronze while O’Sullivan’s team-mate Olive Loughnane produced her best-even finish in a major championships with 12th in 1:30.53.