Ireland's Gillian O'Sullivan took the silver medal in the women's 20 km walk at the World Championships in Paris this morning after finishing behind Russia's Yelena Nikolayeva who won in a championship best time.
O'Sullivan from Kerry becomes only the second Irish woman to win a world championship medal - joining Sonia O'Sullivan on the elite list.
A year ago O'Sullivan was pipped to a bronze medal at the European Championships when, in the last few hundred metres and with the medal practically around her neck, the Italian Erica Alfridi sped past and spoiled her celebrations.
Now the 26-year-old O'Sullivan, who went full-time into the sport before the Sydney Olympics, can turn her attention to next year's Olympic Games in Athens where she is sure to be one of the favourites for the gold.
The Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue congratulated O'Sullivan "on her outstanding performance" at the Championships .
"All of Kerry and Ireland can indeed be proud of Gillian's achievement in Paris. Gillian's commitment and training over the past year has paid off with rich dividends," he said.
The 37-year-old Russian, Nikolayeva, who also has the fastest time this year, finished in one hour 26 minutes and 52 seconds, the second best time this year.
O'Sullivan took the silver medal and Valentina Tsybulskaya of Belarus won the bronze. Chinese medal hopeful Hongjuan Song, who holds the world junior best time, was one of several athletes disqualified during the race.
"This is just fantastic," said the University College Cork graduate, who finished just out of the medals at last year's European Championships in Munich.
"I decided to settle for the silver rather than try and catch Nikolayeva. But this really sets me up for next year's Olympics in Athens and it shows what I can achieve.
"We went off hard but I was prepared for both slow and fast races so there wasn't any problem. There were only three of us left in it at five kilometres and though we were walking at my limits but I felt okay.
"The hardest part was around 13 to 17kms because there were constant changes behind me and I had to push all I could.
"First I thought there was an Italian behind my shoulder, then a Russian and finally the Belorussian. At that point I wasn't sure if I could keep my position but decided to fight and try to get a medal anyway.
"I pushed it hard until I was inside the stadium, it was just then that I let go. I have done a lot of competition and have got a lot of experience and finishing fourth last year give me a lot of confidence."