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After her disappointing performances at the 1996 Olympic Games, and her
relatively poor season in 1997, few would have predicted the remarkable
comeback that Sonia O'Sullivan made in 1998. Her year got off to an
amazing start at the World Cross-Country Championships at Marrakech in
March. O'Sullivan entered both the short course (4km) and long course
(8km) events, a double which few athletes even attempt, much less have
any success at. On successive days, Sonia won both events, and her 4km
time of 12min 20sec was a massive 14 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.
O'Sullivan continued this form into the track season, where her
performances in the 1500m, 3000m and 5000m were close to those she had
produced at her peak in 1994 and 1995.
At the European Championships in
Budapest, the 1500m and 5000m finals, events at which Sonia usually
doubled at major championships, were scheduled to be run on the same
day, thus denying her the opportunity of competing in both events.
Undeterred, O'Sullivan entered the 5000m and 10000m, having never run
the latter event before on the track. In the 10000m final, on 19
August, she shadowed the leaders, and then produced an astonishing
28.1sec final 200 metres to win the gold medal in 31min 29.33sec in her
debut at the distance. Four days later, in the more familiar territory
of the 5000m, the pace was set by Rumanian Gabriela Szabo, but again,
O'Sullivan produced an explosive finishing sprint to defeat Szabo (see photo above)
in 15min 06.50sec. At the World Cup held the following month in
Johannesburg, Sonia won her second major international 5000m competition
of the year, again sprinting clear of the opposition following a very
slow pace. (Ron Casey)
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