In-form O’Sullivan eyes 20km title, but Russians threaten
Her world record for 5,000m 20:02.60 would equate to about 1:27.00 for 20km, and if she was to reproduce that form over the longer distance this morning, she would certainly walk all the way to the podium.
The favourite will undoubtedly be Russian Elena Nikolayeva, who posted 1:27.02 in Cheboksary in May, and she will expect her biggest threat to come from the home country, in Natalya Fedoskina. Fedoskina is next to her in world rankings, with a seasonal best of 1:27.45 from her win in Adler in February.
The third Russian, Olimpiada Ivanova, has a seasonal best of 1:28.24, while Maria Vasco goes in with a seasonal and career best of 1:28.47.
If O'Sullivan had not been in such record-breaking form, the spotlight would be on Olive Loughnane (Loughrea) who also goes in this final today.
Based in Cork, Loughnane too, trains with the Southern group but has had frustrating injury problems.
She bounced back to her best last year when she finished 13th in the world championships in Edmondon which, incidentally, was the best performance by an Irish athlete there.
She built on that this year with a new career-best time for 20km, 1:32.44.
The decision to dispense with the first-round heats means that Karen Shinkins will go directly into this evening's semi-finals of the women's 400m.
"She is in the shape of her life and, while she had a slight injury worry that kept her out of the national championships, she has had a very impressive season and I think she goes into this race with an excellent chance of qualifying for the final," assistant team manager Michael Quinlan said last night.
The decision to scrap the first-round heats makes qualification that bit more difficult, with the first two in each of three races to go through automatically, along with the two fastest losers.
Shinkins goes in the first semi with a seasonal best of 51.48 from Doha in May.
She gets Lane 3, with Jolena Kiljkovic in Lane 2 unlikely to trouble her, but the three outside her might: Catherine Murphy (Great Britain) has run 51.36 this year, Chryssoula Goudenoudi (Greece), 51.81, and Danielle Perpoli (Italy), 51.85.
Ireland will also have a representative in the semi-finals of the men's 400m tonight after Paul McKee's brave performance in yesterday morning's first-round heats.
The Belfast man ran the most clever of races to finish second behind Ingo Schultz of Germany to gain automatic qualification and ensure himself of a good draw Lane 5 in this evening's semi-final.
"That was the plan," explained the Irish record-holder who ran 46.03.
This was a second faster than he ran in the first round at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
"I decided to get out fast, get into a good position and qualify with as little difficulty as possible, and that's what I did, but it was a tough race," McKee said.
His tactics were in total contrast to those of Dubliner Rob Daly, who was away slowly and, despite running a good final bend, could never get in a striking blow in the finishing straight. He finished fifth in 46.67.
Dave McCarthy from Newbridge, just back from the world junior championships in Jamaica where he set a new national record, finished seventh in his heat in 47.30.
Seamus Power will make a belated debut in a major track championship in the final of the men's 10,000m tonight.
While it is his first assignment at this level, it will almost certainly be his last as he returns to cross-country at the end of the season and will begin his preparations for a big marathon.
Terry McHugh, seventh in the final in Helsinki in 1994, will be back in action in the men's javelin this morning.
Since Helsinki, McHugh has continued to feature in Irish teams for all the major events and he showed his class with a spectacular throw of 82.75m in 2000 to earn his place in the Sydney Olympics.
This year, he set a world record by winning his 19th national senior title, but injured his knee and arrived here heavily bandaged.
Eileen O'Keeffe will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of another great Kilkenny thrower, Marita Walton, who finished 12th in the discus at the Los Angeles Olympics, when she goes in the qualifying group A of the women's hammer this morning.
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