Achilles injury rules O'Sullivan out

ATHLETICS: Sonia O'Sullivan has abandoned all plans for the World Cross Country championships and has instead flown from Australia to Albuquerque, New Mexico in the hope that Gerard Hartmann can sort out her Achilles tendon injury, which has prevented her from training for the last four weeks.

Despite a sustained period of rest and treatment at her winter training base in Melbourne, O'Sullivan failed to shake-off the injury and last Friday she contacted Hartmann in Albuquerque, where he is monitoring the training of Paula Radcliffe.

Initially Hartmann suggested she wait another couple of weeks and see him when he returns to his sports injury clinic in Limerick, but another call from O'Sullivan on Sunday night emphasised her desire for such an urgent course of action.

Speaking from Albuquerque yesterday, Hartmann indicated O'Sullivan would be out of training for several more weeks. "When I last spoke to Sonia things were clearly bad," he said. "I don't know exactly what condition the Achilles is in, except that it's very sore. And she won't be doing any running in the immediate future."

With O'Sullivan now ruled out of the World Cross Country, which takes in Lausanne on March 29-30th, the chances of the Irish women's team repeating the bronze medals of year ago have been significantly weakened.

The news is also a blow to the organisers of the Rás na hÉireann in Dunleer on March 16th, who had billed O'Sullivan as their main attraction.

According to Hartmann, however, O'Sullivan is now resigned to several weeks of recuperation in an effort to return to full fitness for the summer track season. She arrived in Albuquerque last night, accompanied by her youngest daughter, Sophie, after a long haul and hastily arranged flight via San Francisco and Dallas.

"For Sonia to come out here makes it clear that she doesn't want to waste any more time," added Hartmann. "But any sort of race is completely out of the question at the moment. And she won't even be trying to get back for the World Cross Country.

"What we have decided to do is for her to remain here until March 9th, and then travel back with me to Limerick for another few weeks of treatment. She is committed now to getting herself right for the summer. But that will mean having to be patient."

Earlier this month Hartmann moved his sports injury clinic to a temporary base in Albuquerque, primarily to oversee the altitude training of Radcliffe and her build-up to the World Cross Country - where she hopes to defend her long course title - and then the London marathon in April. In total there are nine athletes working with Hartmann in Albuquerque, including men's marathon world record holder Khalid Khannouchi and Mark Carroll, who is preparing for the Boston marathon.

"It is very busy here at the moment but I hope to see Sonia as much as possible over the next nine or 10 days. From what I know she is not able to run for more than two minutes without serious pain, so this is the sort of injury which will take at least three to five weeks of treatment alone."

Hartmann is confident O'Sullivan can be back to her best in time for the summer track season, pointing towards a similar injury suffered by O'Sullivan early in 1995. That injury effected the same Achilles tendon on her right leg, but following Hartmann's treatment she was back running within four weeks. 1995 also turned out to be her most successful season ever, the highlight of which was winning the World Championship 5,000 metres in Gothenburg.

It is unclear whether O'Sullivan's injury is a side effect of her painful New York marathon run last November, where she struggled home in 12th place after a bruising experience with "the wall" at 18 miles. O'Sullivan admitted afterwards that finishing that race was the most difficult thing she has ever had to do, and it took her several weeks to recover.

It is known that O'Sullivan has been thinking about a relatively low-key year in order to maintain as much hunger as possible for the next year's Olympics in Athens - which is likely to bring down the curtain on her international career. She has already indicated that most of her summer track races will evolve around the 1,500-3,000 metres.

"I have told Sonia that she needs to go back to running those shorter races this year," said Hartmann. "And she knows that herself. If she does things right over the next year and a half then I have no doubt that she can challenge for the Olympic gold medal over 5,000 metres."