O’Sullivan takes marks for marathon

SHE does not have high expectations, she does not intend to mix it with Paula Radcliffe, but Sonia O’Sullivan still believes Sunday’s Flora London Marathon could be a watershed.

Once the most powerful force in middle-distance running with world titles in track and cross-country O'Sullivan said she is no longer focused on the track, and the world half-marathon championship, rather than next summer's track and field championships in Helsinki, might just be her priority.

She has the qualifying standard for Helsinki but will wait until after Sunday before making any decisions.

"This weekend could change everything. It could change my life," she said.

But she has a cautious approach and the target is to clock her fastest time for the marathon, admitting she will be happy if she runs under 2:30.

"I will wait and see when they announce the pacemaker and when they announce what pace they are going but there is definitely going to be a point where I am going to have to say 'I can't go that fast for the first half' and there is a point where I will say 'I can go that fast'.

"I won't be just looking at Paula.

"There are plenty in there who will be running around my pace, so I am just going to have to be patient.

"Anything can happen. It is a long way and if you go out there and run 67 minutes for the first half anything can happen on a perfect day things will go well."

She does not have the same pressure as in the New York Marathon a few years ago when she was favourite

following a sensational victory in the BUPA Great North Run.

"I was tired of all the running then whereas now I feel a lot fresher and have a lot more energy. When I started training in January I did not really think about the marathon.

"I just wanted to see how fit I could get. I mean I could not think straight away about running 100 miles a week because, all of a sudden, you would start running too far.

"Before I knew it I was running two-and-a-half hour runs at a fairly decent pace and I am ready for a marathon now."

Two years ago Radcliffe set the world record at 2:15:25 in London a performance that paled into insignificance at the Athens Olympics last year.

But she recovered quickly from that experience, won New York some six weeks later and now predicts that she can run faster than her world record in the right conditions.

She is the raging favourite for Sunday's race with bookmakers quoting her at 1/2 over Margaret Okayo 3/1, and Sun Yingjie and Susan Chepkemi 10/1.

"What happened in Athens has made me tougher as a person and as an athlete and now I care less about people criticising me," she said.

"I like to try to please everyone but I realise I can't do that, so I do what I and those close to me feel is right.

"I'll probably never get totally over Athens but I have put it in the past and I believe I can run faster than 2:15:25. I felt I was in shape to last year had I run London and I still believe I have my best days ahead of me."