No excuses for gallant O'Sullivan

Sonia O’Sullivan was not despondent after missing out on an IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships medal in New Delhi today.

“It was tough, very hard from the very beginning of the race,” admitted O’Sullivan who finished in one hour 10minutes 33seconds.

O’Sullivan was never in contention as Sun Yingjie won the title with a Chinese national record of one hour eight minutes 40secs.

The 27-year-old might have claimed her first-ever world title but it was runner-up Lydia Cheromei who quickly dictated how the race would be run.

The Kenyan stepped up the revolutions when there was still a pack of 10 contenders fancying their chances.

Cheromei’s brave tactics after just three miles, ripped apart the ambitions of not only O’Sullivan, but almost the entire field.

Only Sun Yingjie and bronze medallist Constantina Tomescu-Dita were able to respond when Cheromei, 27, winner of the world junior title at 13, made her break.

There were no excuses from O’Sullivan who only a week after running well in the BUPA Great North Run found herself overstretched and unable to respond.

The Irish star found the next 10 miles hard work.

O’Sullivan said: “I tried to relax but this was a championship race and with such a fast start I felt horrible.”

The fact that the second half of the race circuited through the Nehru Stadium starting point where 40,000 spectators were present, also played mind games with her.

“Coming into the stadium I felt a huge temptation to stop,” admitted O’Sullivan. “In my mind I felt I was going backwards.”

But partner and coach Nic Bideau was on hand to ensure O’Sullivan regained her composure with words of encouragement as she set off on the second half of the race.

“I’m happy enough to close my season like this,” said O’Sullivan.

She added: “There is no such thing as an easy championship race and certainly this wasn’t. I did the best I could and to finish fourth at this level I can rate it as an achievement.”

Ethiopia prevented Romania winning a seventh team title beating off their eastern European rivals challenge by only seconds.

The African nation’s winning time, based on the combined clockings of their first three finishers, was 3.6,00. Defending champion’s Russia took the bronze medals in 3.38.21.

The men’s race provided an easy victory for Paul Kirui who also led Kenyan to an eighth team title.

Kirui broke away with three miles of the race remaining to win in 1.02.15 ahead of Fabiano Joseph.

The 18-year-old Tanzanian finished second for the second successive year in 1.02.31 with Qatar’s Abdullah Ahmad Hassan setting a national record of 1.02.36 to claim the bronze medal.