O'Sullivan backs Johnson for Great Ireland Run

Sonia O’Sullivan has tipped training partner Benita Johnson to emerge victorious from a high-quality field in tomorrow’s Great Ireland Run in Dublin.

O’Sullivan – a former champion who is competing in the 10,000metres road race in Phoenix Park as one of the mass participants – believes Johnson is regaining peak form after missing six weeks of training with a knee injury.

The 28-year-old Australian star was forced to pull out of this month’s Flora London Marathon as a precautionary measure, but with a great display at last weekend’s World Cross Country Championships Johnson proved she is well on the road to recovery.

Johnson, the 2004 world champion, raised her form brilliantly as she finished the first non-African competitor – leading her country to third position and its first long-course podium finish behind Ethiopia and Kenya.

Now Johnson is aiming to continue her rehabilitation in the Irish capital where Commonwealth 5,000m silver medallist Jo Pavey, Doris Changeywo – the Kenyan who was fourth in the Edinburgh race – and Hungary’s Aniko Kalovics will be strong contenders.

Victoria Mitchell, another Aussie, defends her title while Helen Clitheroe, who was pushed into second place in a sprint finish, is also returning.

Despite the strength in depth at the head of the field, O’Sullivan believes Johnson is firing on all cylinders and will pull off a victory.

“I think I would put my money on Benita – she trained well this morning,” said O’Sullivan, who as a holder of dual Irish and Australian nationality was team manager to the latter side at the World Cross.

O’Sullivan insisted: “She is happy and confident and moving forward every day, so she should be in even better condition to race this weekend.”

Johnson herself was delighted with the display in Holyrood Park and is now determined to make up for lost time in her preparations for contesting either the Olympic 10,000m or marathon in August.

She said: “It gives me a lot of motivation that I’m getting fitter and that I can compete and I’m not even at my best yet.

“I would say I’m probably 70% – certainly nowhere near where I can be.”

Abraham Chebii is defending his men’s crown which he won at a canter a year ago, and the biggest threat should come from former Kenyan teammate Abdullah Ahmad Hassan, now representing Qatar.

Hassan, who switched nationality five years ago, is the Asian 10,000m record holder with a time of 26 minutes 38.76 seconds – making him the world’s 10th fastest performer in history.

Sergiy Lebid, winner of a seventh European cross-country crown last December, returns to Dublin after a fourth position two years ago, and Eritrean Yared Asmeron, fourth in last summer’s World Championships marathon, is also in the field.