Athletics: Sonia wins Down Under
Sunday, 11 February 2001 08:27Sonia O'Sullivan won the 1500m in 4:12 at the Victorian State Athletics Championships held at the Olympic Park in Melbourne last night. Her nearest challenger was the 17-year-old gifted Australian and Olympic semi-finalist, Georgie Clarke who finished second in 4:14.
Sonia ran a controlled race leading most of the way after the first lap and gradually stretching the field as she slowly increased the tempo. By the last lap only Clarke was really in contact but Sonia kicked before the home straight to ensure victory was not in doubt. Third was another promising young Australian Haley MacGregor.
Both of the Australians will be coming to Dublin in March to run in the Junior World Cross-Country Event. While the field was not particularly strong, Sonia looked very good so hopefully it augurs well for Lisbon and Dublin over the coming weeks. She now moves on to some of the Grand Prix series races in Australia with the race back here in Melbourne on 1st March the likely major target before she leaves for Europe. This will be her last race in Australia for now although hopefully she will be back later this year possibly for the Goodwill Games in Brisbane and the International Grand Prix final in Melbourne both of which are after the World Athletic Championships in Edmonton.
Sonia was running for a local Melbourne club, Glenhuntly, so she is the Victorian champion at 1500m for this season. This is in addition to the 10000m Australian and Victorian titles she won last December when winning the Zatopek Classic (also in Melbourne) as these titles were combined into that race which she also ran as a member of the Glenhuntly club. This enabled her to claim the local titles and not just first overseas competitor.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
