Sophie O'Sullivan is no rabbit in the headlights ahead of World Indoors

Sophie O’Sullivan is ready for the World Indoors.

If this all feels a bit foreign, then that’s only to be expected. 

Sophie O’Sullivan is sitting in a nail salon in Nanjing, China, when she takes the Zoom call, throwing the odd confused glance during the interview as employees dart around her, speaking Mandarin.

But ahead of this week’s World Indoor Championships, the 23-year-old is just fine with stepping out of her comfort zone. 

She has never raced an indoor 1500m, but in tomorrow’s heats, which get underway just after 10.30am Irish time, she will do so against some of the world’s best.

There is Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, the world indoor record holder. There is Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell, the Olympic bronze medallist. 

O’Sullivan admits she’s new enough to this level that she still thinks, “Wow, I'm going to race them,” but having competed at the very highest level over the past two years means she’s no rabbit in the headlights. 

“You do feel a bit more comfortable and that you do have a chance, that you belong there as much as anyone else,” she says.

She arrived in China on Monday from Japan, where she won a road mile the previous week. But she’s only run one track race since the Paris Olympics, kicking to victory in an outdoor 1500m at the Perth Classic in early March, clocking 4:06.74.

As for indoors? That’s not a thing in Australia, where O’Sullivan was born and raised. She grew up in Melbourne, the daughter of Irish legend Sonia O’Sullivan and Australian coach/agent Nic Bideau. 

In 2018, she chose to represent Ireland internationally, winning silver at the European U-18 Championships over 800m, beaten by Keely Hodgkinson, the current Olympic champion. Also winning gold that week: Sarah Healy and Rhasidat Adeleke.

Every athlete must face their own struggles on the road to senior success and for O’Sullivan, it was injuries. She had more than her fair share in her four years at the University of Washington. 

She graduated last year and since December, she’s been back home in Melbourne, her coaching a collaboration between her parents and her college coach Maurica Powell.

In recent months she has strung together a long, healthy block of training – something that was often impossible in previous years. 

“I'd always been a bit high mileage so I think I've just gone a little bit less and been able to maintain for a longer time,” she says. “I've just always (thought that) more is more and having people go, ‘Listen, maybe you should just try and run a little bit less and then eventually you can go up a bit more,’ that's helped a lot.” 

Coming into 2025, she didn’t have grand designs for an indoor season and focused on laying a solid foundation for the Tokyo World Championships. 

O’Sullivan watched from afar as Healy – who she’d beaten to gold in the European U-23 final – enjoyed her golden moment in Apeldoorn. 

“It was really good to watch. You're just so happy to see (it) go her way. When people get medals, it just makes it a bit more possible for everyone.” 

O’Sullivan didn’t know what to expect in her season opener in Perth, but surprised herself with an impressive win. 

“It was better than I'd ever been at the time of year. I figured I was in good shape so I might as well come and give the (World) Indoors a crack.” 

At the World Championships in Budapest in 2023, she finished eighth in her 1500m heat. At the Paris Olympics, she was seventh in the heat and fourth in the repechage – both times just one spot shy of qualifying. 

And while she’s coming into this under the radar, she has the gears, grit and guile to avoid a one-and-done. 

“I’ll be looking to get out of the heat,” she says. “I’ve never done that before so if I could tick that off it’d be a great start – and then go from there.” 

O’Sullivan will return to Seattle next month, taking a few more classes and hoping to finish her NCAA career with a flourish in June. 

After that, she’ll relocate to Europe for the build-up to Tokyo, spending part of the summer in Ireland, before returning to Australia in September and continuing her career with the Melbourne Track Club. 

At many events in the past, she has vastly outperformed her ranking. She hopes Nanjing is another one of those.

“I’ll focus on trying to get as high up as possible, focus on the simple things of racing and competing,” she says. “The things I know I can do well.”