O’Sullivan agonisingly pipped for gold in Munich

The ecstasy and the agony: Marta Dominguez celebrates snatching the 5,000m gold medal from O’Sullivan’s grasp (© Reuters)

Sonia O’Sullivan was agonisingly pipped at the line for gold in the 5,000metres at the European Championships in Munich today.

Defending the title she won in Budapest four years ago, a slow, tactical race looked to be within the Corkwoman’s grasp when she kicked for home just over 150 metres from the finish.

She immediately opened an advantage of just over two metres on Spain’s Marta Dominguez and as she rounded the bend the gold medal beckoned.

But the Spaniard gritted her teeth in the home straight and out-sprinted O’Sullivan in a nail-biting finish, barely catching her at the line to win by just 0.09 seconds in a time of 15 minutes 14.76seconds.

Afterwards, a desperately disappointed O’Sullivan explained that a lapse of concentration in the closing stages cost her a title she dearly wanted.

"I just wish I could go out there and run that last 150m again because I made too many mistakes," she explained. "Maybe I was a little nervous."

Nevertheless, despite the disappointment of losing in such a dramatic fashion, the Cobh runner vowed to return even stronger and intends to step up her training regime.

"Practice makes perfect and I didn’t have enough practice," she conceded. "Once I’m ready and fit I’ll be out there giving it everything again."

Ireland’s Una English was well down the field in 15th while Maria McCambride finished 19th.

Meanwhile, the men’s 4x400 metres relay team of Paul McKee, Rob Daly, Antoine Burke and David McCarthy created a piece of history in qualifying for the tomorrow’s final and breaking the Irish record in the process.

Their time of 3minutes 3.73seconds was comfortably good enough to qualify as first fastest losers, and more importantly, it is the first time in the history of Irish athletics that a relay team has reached the final of a major championship.

Elsewhere, Britain’s Colin Jackson roared to a fourth successive European 110 metres hurdles victory to complete a quickfire golden double for Britain in Munich today.

The 35-year-old triumphed just minutes after triple jumper Ashia Hansen had snatched victory with her final effort to take Britain's gold tally to five.

Jackson became the second Brit to win four European titles in a row, joining Steve Backley who achieved the feat in the javelin yesterday.