O’Sullivan goes the extra mile in Milan
The double world record holder crossed the line in 87 mins 22 secs, well inside her old Irish record which she set at 88 mins 46 secs, with Norway's Olympic silver medallist, Kjersti Platzer, more than two minutes behind in 89 mins 55 secs.
It was a spectacular performance by the 26 year old Killarney woman a member of the Farranfore/Maine Valley club who now takes a clear lead in the Grand Prix for which there is an overall prize of $30,000.
She won the first Grand Prix of the season in Tijuana a couple of weeks after she set a world indoor record in Belfast.
O'Sullivan, who had the bronze medal snatched from her in the final 400m at the European championships by an Italian, Erica Alfridi, took on the Italians in their own back yard and never gave them a look in.
The race started with three laps of the stadium and by the time she left there was nobody else in sight.
"To be honest it was the last time I saw another competitor," she reflected. "I did not know what the other athletes had in mind so I was not going to take any chances.
"The first two kilometres felt a bit slow so I picked it up a bit. I covered the first lap in 8:58 and when I picked it up I hit 8:40. I thought that might have been a bit quick so I dropped the pace and while I felt it was slower it was still 8:42 and I was very comfortable.
"I covered the second half of the race in 43.36 which was 10 seconds faster than the first 10k," she said.
Out on her own she was carried along by the enthusiasm of the crowd but she was always watching for someone to come alongside. "Nobody came up and I made the most of it," she said. "I always felt I had something extra to draw on if need be."
The next Grand Prix race is in Spain next month and while she said she will consider her participation in that event her mind may now be made up for her by the fact that she is in line for the big prize.
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