I went too early, says disappointed Sonia
All the excitement of what was an uneventful race was packed into that finishing straight duel which the defending champion appeared to have won once she extracted herself from a difficult situation going into the final 200m and then took the lead. But Sonia knew she had made a mistake. “I knew I went too early, so immediately I had this doubt in my mind,” she recalled. “But I think if I had not thought about I might have got it. But I thought: ‘Oh No!’ I could not see what was going on behind me. I knew with about 70 metres to go my legs were gone and there was just nothing left.”
The winning time - 15:14.76 for the winner against 15:14.85 for the runner up - speaks volumes for the race. The laps varied from just over 72 seconds to one of 79.21 secs with the first kilometre at 3:10.52, the second at 6:08.67 and 3k at 9:14.82. In the 10,000m final on Tuesday night, they went through the opening kilometre in 2:59.16 and reached 3,000m in 8:56.54.
“At 200m I was in a bad position. I was still a bit boxed in and I was trying to get out of it,” she said. “Now I was not just thinking about driving for the line. I had to think about getting myself in the right position as well so I was probably thinking about too many things. Looking back on it, I could not have done any more from the position I put myself into. I wanted to get to the line first but when the legs start going from under you, you are clinging to the track. Maybe I needed to be a little bit more patient.”
She had passed Dominguez early in the straight, but the Spaniard kept digging and eventually Sonia could only grab at her arm as she edged past in the last couple of strides.
“I had been preparing for this type of finish for the past three weeks,” the Spaniard said. “I trained specially for a really fast last lap.”
The last 200m was run in 29.55 secs. She would probably have compared that to her last 200m in the 10,000m on Tuesday night when she ran 27.9 secs and at the Sydney Olympics where the race was 34 seconds faster, she ran a 28.7 sec last 200m. But she insisted that the 10,000m on Tuesday night where she set a new national record at 30:47.69 did not have anything to do with it.
“I was maybe only 90% confident out there and that could have been the difference between now and 1995 and 1998,” she said. I took a year off. Obviously I am fit enough right now, but it just takes a little time and it takes a little bit of practice at putting yourself in those situations where you are under pressure and you are thinking under pressure.
“I nearly had it today but I think I lacked that little bit of confidence. Having said that I have two silver medals going home and I would have to regard that as a successful European championships for me. I am not sorry I ran the 5,000m or anything like that.
“I have two silver medals and maybe if I press them hard enough they will turn to gold.
