Double European gold medallist, Sonia O'Sullivan has won the Grand Prix in Helsinki. It was her first race in Finland for the first time since her memorable 5,000 and 10,000 metre double two years ago. Her winning time was 8 minutes 45 seconds. Sonia missed most of the last season and a half, because of the birth of her daughter Ciara last year.
‘It's nice to be back at this level,’ said 29-year-old O'Sullivan, ‘and even better to see that my finishing speed is still there.’
‘It wasn't the night for running fast times. There was no point in that. My coach Alan Storey said I should plan to run around 8:45 so everything worked out as we wanted and suggests that in training I am doing the right things.’
‘It's much better to run a proper race like I did tonight than trying to prove myself by doing it in a time trial. Now I'm more aware of where I stand and looking forward to more races.’ O’Sullivan concluded.
Having posted Olympic qualification times for the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 already this year, the Corkwoman is still undecided over what distance to run over in the Games later this year.
