O'Sullivan eyeing Delhi triumph

Sonia O’Sullivan, a past winner of several IAAF World Championship titles, chases yet another over the half marathon distance in New Delhi on Sunday.

The Irishwoman possesses the classiest pedigree of the field in the 13.1 miles race being staged very early in the morning, to help counter the torrid heat of the Indian city.

O’Sullivan insists she is back in form to make a genuine challenge for another gold medal, after a disappointing Olympics where sickness prevented her making any impact over 5,000 metres.

Four years earlier she was runner-up in Sydney, but a badly upset stomach saw her finish last and, at one very low point just afterwards, she considered quitting.

But O’Sullivan’s tenacity has seen her bounce back in the six weeks that have elapsed since that awful night in Athens Olympic Stadium.

O’Sullivan, boosted by support from her very loyal Irish fans, showed she is still a major force to be reckoned with after a confidence-boosting victory in early September.

The former World 5,000m gold medallist won the Flora Lite Women’s Challenge over that distance on the pathways of London’s Hyde Park in world-class time.

More importantly she defeated Derartu Tulu, the two-time Olympic 10,000m champion and bronze medallist in Athens and World Cross Country title holder, Benita Johnson.

Then O’Sullivan last Sunday finished sixth in the BUPA Great North Run against a world class field very much stronger than the one which will line up in New Delhi.

“I’d already thought about running in Delhi before the Great North and set myself a target of 69 minutes up there,” she said.

“I dipped under the time and that told me as I have still got plenty of running in my legs, it would be worthwhile making the trip.

“Running in the hot conditions doesn’t bother me, in fact I tend to cope easily with the heat,” said O’Sullivan, who six years ago became the first-ever athlete to score a World Cross Country long and short course double.

That victory was achieved in a sweltering 90 degrees temperature of Marrakech and the thermometer in New Delhi, even with a 9.20am start, could be lingering around that point.

O’Sullivan, 34, doesn’t know know many of the names, particularly of the normally dominant African runners who are in the race.

While Great Britain has not a single entrant, Ethiopia and Kenya have sent younger stars to boost their experience of competing at this level.

That leaves Sun Yingjie the biggest threat to prevent O’Sullivan taking home the US30,000 dollars first prize.

Sun Yingjie herself did not have the best of Olympics finishing sixth over 10,000m, only 12 months after winning the World bronze medal at the distance in Paris.

But the World’s fourth fastest-ever marathon runner who broke her collarbone after tripping on a treadmill last December, is also clearly back in shape.

Sun Yingjie last weekend won both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres in the hotly contested Chinese National Grand Prix finals.

“She’s got bags of talent,” said O’Sullivan of her 26-year-old major rival. “But I’ll obviously also be keeping an eye on the Africans who can pop up from nowhere.”

John Cheruiyot Korir, sixth in the Olympic 5,000m final starts as favourite to become the third successive Kenyan to win the men’s title.

He is joined in the race by countryman Paul Kosgei who claimed the title two years ago.

The pair’s likeliest challengers appear to be the Ethiopian pair of Teyiba Erkesso, the World Cross Country short course bronze medallist and African 10,000m silver medallist Abebe Dinkessa.

Former Kenyan Albert Chepkuri, now running as Abdullah Ahmad Hassan, heads a useful looking Qatar squad whose eyes are firmly on the team title.