It's shaping up like a major 10,000 metres final in the Olympic Stadium on Saturday after all the top contenders for the title qualified yesterday with an ease which, in some instances, bordered on arrogance.

Among them is Sonia O'Sullivan who showed herself to be fully recovered from her massive run in the 5,000 metres final on Monday, by qualifying comfortably in the first of the two heats.

On this occasion, however, pragmatism superseded professional pride and the Irish champion, content merely to meet the requirements of the day, went through by taking the seventh of the eight automatic qualifying places.

Four others progressed as fastest losers, but sadly, Breda Dennehy-Willis was not among them. In spite of finishing like the proverbial express train to finish 11th in the second race, she was 13 seconds outside the cut-off time of 32 minutes 59.28 seconds.

O'Sullivan, at 32.29.93 was 33 seconds adrift of the first-heat winner, Derartu Tulu, but once a group of eight had got away shortly after 5,000 metres, her primary purpose it seemed was to conserve as much energy as possible for the final.

By the time the leaders reached the 7,500 metres mark, she had drifted some 40 metres off the pace as the two African athletes Tulu and Tegla Loroupe, took on the defending champion, Portugal's Fernanda Ribeiro at the front.

Later, we watched another impressive demonstration of black power when the two Kenyans, Sally Bosossio and Alice Timbell, showed the way home to the Ethiopian pair, Berhane Adere and Gete Wami, to set the scene for another exercise in African intrigue on Saturday.

For once, O'Sullivan was numbered among the supporting cast as she watched the action up front from afar, but, content in the knowledge that she had achieved her primary objective, she was suitably sanguine in her post-race comments.

"With eight to qualify automatically, it didn't really matter whether you finished first or eighth," she said. "Of course, it was difficult not to go with the pace because everybody likes to be involved where it counts.

"But it was very important to get through the race without any physical distress for we have another big race ahead of us in three days time.

"The aim was to be in the top eight and, luckily, the race broke up fairly early and I could relax. For me, it was just like a good training run, like so many others I've done this summer. But it's going to be a lot different in the final. There, it will be competitive for every one of the 26 laps with every move counting."

On the problems of undertaking two 10,000 races in three days, the first time she has been required to do so, she said: "I think I trained generally for the 10,000, for there was a point in the summer where I thought it would be my only event here.

"With that kind of preparation, I should be fairly comfortable, although it's going to be very, very hard on Saturday. But I'm ready for it."

After her medical problems in the wake of last Sunday's marathon, Loroupe is somewhat less healthy. "I think there was something in my food. I just couldn't keep anything down after that race. Today I felt better but I'm still a bit tired."

Of the 20 who will face the starter at 9 a.m. (Irish time) on Saturday, Kenya and Ethiopia will each provide three runners and Japan and Russia two apiece. Before last Monday's 5,000 metres final, the three Ethiopians decided that they would run as individuals rather than as a team, but now it looks as if they will reverse that policy.

Questioned on the point, Gete Wami said: "This time I think we will run to help each other. It will be very tactical and it's good to have two team-mates in there with you."

Surprisingly, she offered the opinion that Derartu Tula would cut-out the pace. "Tulu is a good front-runner, she is going to make it difficult for everybody behind her."

After being involved where it hurts for most of the race, Britain's Paula Radcliffe finished sixth in the second race, but, no less than O'Sullivan, she appeared to have plenty left in the reserve tank.

Dennehy-Willis improved significantly, on her modest performance in the 5,000 and, with a little more self-confidence in the middle stages of the race, would almost certainly have booked a place in the final.

That opinion was reinforced by the manner in which she "flew" the last 200 metres, but, by that stage, however, she had cut things a little too finely. Now she is off to America to prepare for the world cross-country championship in Dublin next March.

Elsewhere, Sinead Delahunty was close to tears after missing out on the semi-finals of the 1,500 metres by just a hundred of a second. Ironically, the athlete who got in just ahead of her was Sonia O'Sullivan's 16-year-old training partner, Georgie Clarke of Australia.

Sarah Reilly was so troubled by a respiratory problem that she had to be taken off the track in a wheelchair after finishing fifth in her second-round race in the 200 metres.

Nor was there much joy for the Ulster athlete, Paul Brizzel who, after being responsible for one of two false starts in the men's 200 metres, finished fourth in the race won by the Brazilian, Ciaudinei de Silva.