Sonia O'Sullivan had to settle for a silver medal in the European Championships tonight when she was beaten by Britain's Paula Ratcliffe in the 10,000 metres final. Ratcliffe was outstanding as she led from start to finish to set a new European record of 30 minutes 01.09 seconds. Ratcliffe set her stall early on by opening up a lead from the off, O'Sullivan went with her but was soon found wanting as Ratcliffe opened an unassailable lead.
O'Sullivan continued to work hard and led the rest of the chasing pack by a distance throughout before producing a sprint finish at the end to secure silver and set a new Irish record of 30:47.59. Marie Davenport finished 17th and Anne Keenan-Buckley was back in 26th.
Radcliffe said afterwards, "I felt it was very important to win the race but also to break the European record which has stood for such a long time. I was disappointed that I wasn't under 30 minutes. I was alright at half-way but then I lost it between six and eight kilometres.
"The last three kilometres hurt and I probably went off too fast at the beginning. I really felt before the race that I could go under 30 minutes and that was my plan. I think running the marathon has given me the mental strength for that. With 12 minutes left it was really hurting and I wasn't really concentrating but again I thought of the pain of a marathon and kept going. It was important to me to win the title and break Ingrid's record. It was good as she is someone I have always looked up to.
Filed by Johnny Proby
