Olympic silver medallist Sonia O'Sullivan has made the surprise announcement that she will not contest any track races this summer including the World Championships. O'Sullivan revealed after finishing second in today's Tesco Ireland Evening Herald Women's Mini-Marathon in Dublin that she found the Sydney Games very tiring mentally and physically and that she now intends to take a good rest, especially as she has been suffering from illness all too often this year.
She said she intends to fulfil a commitment to run in the Nike Ballycotton 10-mile road race at the end of this month but she will not be attending the Cork City Sports or any other track meeting including the World Championships in Canada.
O'Sullivan finished second in today's 10k mini-marathon in a time of 33 minutes and 26 seconds, a half-minute behind winner Magdaline Chemjor of Kenya. Chemjor finished second to O'Sullivan in last year's race. However, the Kenyan failed to break O'Sullivan's record time for the event, which stands at 31.28. Valerie Vaughan finished in third position with a time of 34 minutes. Over 31,000 women took part in the annual event.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
