O'Sullivan ready for Radcliffe's challenge

SONIA O'SULLIVAN is expecting the big challenge will come from Paula Radcliffe when she sets out in defence of her European 10,000m title at the Olympic Stadium in Munich tomorrow night.

But the Irish woman, who had an unprecedented and yet to be equalled 10,000m/5,000m double in Budapest four years ago, is ready for the challenge.

Last weekend she ran a 7.5km road race around Park in London and went through the opening 5,000m in 14:57 world record pace if it was during a 10,000m race on the track to satisfy herself that she can cope with that type of speed when the newly crowned Commonwealth Games champion piles on the pressure early on in tomorrow's race.

"She just wanted to test herself to see if she could do it," her partner Nick Bideau said as they joined the Irish team in Munich. "There is every chance the first 5k in Munich will be about that pace if Paula does what she normally does.

"Paula is favourite and she is entitled to be favourite.

But Sonia is a good runner and she has always run well in the European championships.

"Sonia is not going out there to give it to her. She is going out there to try and beat her.

"And she is in pretty good shape. She has no worries about her fitness. She has been training as good as ever and maybe better she may be fitter than she was before the Olympic Games in Sydney."

This year Sonia sidestepped the Golden League and Bideau, whose inspiration brought her back to win doubles at the world cross-country championships and the European track and field championships in 1998 after two agonising years, feels this is a good thing.

"If you are running Golden League races week in and week out, you have to be ready for each race and that can be difficult to do five or six times," he said.

"Sonia has not had that pressure because what she really wants to do is to be ready to run in the Irish uniform, in a major championship, in a big stadium where a lot more people are more interested than they are in the Golden League."

He said the annual 'Wedding Day Race' in Bushy Park, where she trains, was important. It was a mixed race featuring both men and women and she finished third overall behind two of the men in 23 minutes flat.

"We went out and measured the course just make sure the 5k mark was correct," Bideau said. "We would hope if she can do that in a race like this on the road, she should not have any problem doing it on the track in a 10,000m race.

"And if it comes to a dust up between Sonia and Paula over the last couple of laps I would make Sonia odds on to win that one," he said.

Radcliffe, twice world cross-country champion, world half marathon champion and the winner of this year's Flora London Marathon, claimed her first gold medal on the track a week ago when she won the 5,000m title at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester knocking more than a second off her previous best time with a 14:31.42 run.

With the Chicago Marathon her next target she will most likely end her short track season in Munich.

"I am entered for the 5,000m and the 10,000m but my main event is the 10,000m," she said. "The Europeans will probably be the end of my track season and I will then build up my preparations for the Chicago Marathon."

Bideau said he was looking forward to the European championships after a gruelling Commonwealth Games where he had 10 athletes in action. Of those Kerryn McCann, who trains with Sonia early in the season, won the women's marathon, and he had bronze medallists in the 10,000m and 400m.

Mark Carroll and race walkers Robert Heffernan and Jamie Costin came in from their training camp outside Salzburg last evening to join the other members of the Irish team.

"Right now I can't wait for Tuesday evening," Heffernan said. "All our preparations have gone very well up to this point and we are just waiting now for competition. It has been brilliant out there. It was absolutely roasting so I don't think heat will be a problem here. We are ready for that."

At present the Togher athlete is ranked eighth in the world and seventh in Europe over 25k and he is hoping to make a big step up in the rankings tomorrow night.

"I have done everything I can so now it is all on the day. I just have to wait and I suppose that is the hard part," he said.

"But I have never before been so relaxed going into a competition. I suppose I have the experience of the Olympic Games and world championships behind me and I have been through the learning process.

"I don't feel overawed any more when a look around me on the start line. I feel more confident that I can mix it with the big guys.

"I beat Allesandro Gandellini in Dublin and he has been eighth in the Olympics and fifth in the worlds, and nobody expected that. I think that when I line up now one or two guys will be looking at me.

"Anything can happen on the day. I mean nobody expected the Russians to finish one, two and three in the worlds. If I perform the way I performed this year in a major championship then I won't be too far away. Mentally I feel a lot fresher than ever before. I am pretty excited about the whole thing."

And he said Mark Carroll is also arriving at peak form despite his earlier setbacks this season.

"I watched him doing some sessions and he is absolutely flying. He did a really good work out on the track on Friday. He is very relaxed and looking forward to it."

Karen Shinkins will be in action in the heats of the women's 400m tomorrow morning. The heats of the men's 100m will also take place at this session.

The 20k walk will start at 4.35pm tomorrow when Heffernan will be joined by Costin. And the final of the women's 10,000m will take place at 8pm (Irish time).

James Nolan will be in action in the heats of the men's 1,500m and Adrienne McIvor, a late addition to the team, will go in the heats of the women's 800m.