O'Sullivan set to switch to marathon
Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan is almost certain to switch from being a track specialist to a marathon runner next year.
“Yes, there is a possibility of running a marathon in the spring,” admitted O’Sullivan after finishing fourth in yesterday’s IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships.
“All of my training this year was obviously leaning more towards the track and of course it will have to be changed,” said O’Sullivan, whose Olympic medal hopes were ruined when she picked up a stomach bug.
But the former Olympic 5,000m silver medallist cautiously added: “I’ve run my last race of the season and now it’s time for a rest before deciding about the future.”
No one will blame O’Sullivan for taking her time about turning her back on the track, although even if she does take up the marathon, the odd appearance because of her popularity with fans, cannot be ruled out.
But O’Sullivan, 34, now realises her future does lie on what can be a lucrative road running circuit, and looks set to change her training towards the discipline.
O’Sullivan, however, has not forgotten that after going to the New York City Marathon two years ago, she suffered badly throughout the 26.2-miles event and finished 12th.
But she will have learned from the experience and will be much better prepared when tackling her next marathon.
Yesterday in New Delhi, O’Sullivan was more than happy after finishing fourth in the Indian capital against very strong opposition.
Only a week after placing sixth in the BUPA Great North Run, she was no match for the three medallists, Sun Yingjie, Lydia Cheromei and Constantina Tomescu-Dita.
Marathon specialist Sun Yingjie won her first world title in a Chinese record time of one hour eight minutes and forty seconds.
O’Sullivan, who clocked 1min 10:33secs, admitted: “It was tough, very hard from the very beginning of the race.
“I tried to relax but this was a championship race and with such a fast start I felt horrible.”
She admitted that she almost pulled up at the halfway point after feeling the effects of the early pace.
The west London-based star said: “Coming into the stadium I felt a huge temptation to stop. In my mind I felt I was going backwards.”
But commonsense won the day and she continued to round off her year with what she considered a creditable performance.
O’Sullivan said: I’m happy enough to close my season like this. 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 as an achievement.”
