Heroic effort as O’Sullivan walks tall

THE women’s 20k walk will surely prove to be one of the highlights of this world championships in Paris.

Yelena Nikolayeva arguably the most successful woman walker in history had to produce a championship best performance to beat Ireland's Gillian O'Sullivan, to add the elusive world title to the Olympic title which she won in Atlanta.

The 37-year-old Russian won in 1:26:52 in blistering heat as the Irishwoman who celebrated her 27th birthday here on Thursday coasted home in 1:27:34, ahead of the Belarussian Valentina Tsybulskaya, who set a new national record at 1:28:10.

Olive Loughnane, Ireland's other representative in the race, swept through the field in the closing stages to finish 12th in 1:30:53, improving on the 13th places she recorded at both the last world championships in Edmonton and the European championships in Munich last year.

With Nikolayeva leading the world list for the year and O'Sullivan leading the world Grand Prix series with two firsts and a second in five races, it was always between these two.

And when the defending champion walked off the course rubbing the back of her left leg, apparently suffering from a hamstring problem, there were just three competitors in contention: the Russian, the Irishwoman, and Elisabetta Perrone of Italy, who was O'Sullivan's nearest challenger at the top of the Grand Prix table.

"It was pretty much a psychological struggle at that point," O'Sullivan recalled.

"I felt Perrone was breathing quite heavily and I felt good about that, but you never know. Some people can work hard even when they are really tired. But the race had gone out fast and that suited me."

She kept pressing at the front, snatching the lead and keeping it through 5k in 22:09, with Perrone on her shoulder and Nikolayeva just a second behind. But then the Russian launched a series of attacks, finally going clear at 10k, 20 seconds ahead of the other two.

"I had raced her earlier in the year in Russia and I decided that I should work within my pace and walk within my technique, and that was to be around 87 minutes. That way I would not be in danger of disqualification."

Forgetting about the leader, she was then involved in a contest for the silver with the still-threatening Perrone.

"We had been doing 8:40 for the 2k laps but then the pace increased to 8:37 and I lost a bit," O'Sullivan said. "I picked it up again and at that point she dropped back. In fact she did not finish at all, and I was very surprised with that. She did a really fast 5k a couple of weeks ago and obviously her form was good coming into the race."

Nikolayeva passed the 15k mark in 1:04:53, and O'Sullivan was cool, confident and in control of herself.

"Disqualification is always at the back of your mind. I have worked hard on my technique and I did not get a card until about 17k, and that gave me confidence. I knew that once I got through 15k without a card I could go for it. I felt strong. I felt good and the support was just fantastic."

Perrone began to drift back as a second Russian, Tatyana Gudova, and another Italian, Rosella Giordano, came through, but in the end it was Tsybulskaya who took the bronze.

Early on, Olive Loughnane was close to the pace just 19 seconds behind at 5k but she was back in 33rd position at halfway.

"I could see the pace was too fast for the conditions. There were girls up there and I knew they were going to come back to me while if I kept going I could have been one of those going backwards," she said. "I had decided there was a point at which I was going to do my own thing. It had reached that point. It was a matter of having the confidence to stick to your plan."

After halfway, she began to work her way up through the field, and had overtaken half of those in front of her entering the stadium.

"I finished 12th and not fully happy with it, so that shows the standard we are setting at this stage," she said. "It is absolutely brilliant for Gillian. It just shows what can be done. We are as good as the rest of them. That is two walking medals for Ireland this year. Success breeds success."

Anyone looking for a reason to remove race walking from the Olympic programme would not have found it yesterday, with few disqualifications.

Gillian believes any such move would meet with fierce resistance.

"I think all the walkers who finished today were good walkers," she said.

"I think it is important that the medallists are good and that there is no question about their technique.

"Since Sydney they have improved on the judging. They tend to do their DQs earlier and caution earlier, and that's better for the athletes. Who wants to be going at 17k or 18k?

"Yesterday my coach was saying the judging was tough enough in the men's race, with a good number of DQs, but it was fair. If you deserve to go you deserve to go."