O'Sullivan back on Olympic track

Scandinavia in June and it must be the start of the Grand Prix season. This evening in Helsinki, Sonia O'Sullivan makes her first European track appearance in almost two years and while her mission - as always - is to win, she is not getting carried away with any great expectations.

It's also O'Sullivan's first return to the city's Olympic Stadium since she won European gold over 3,000 metres six years ago. That's the same distance she runs here and although it will be read by many as the first real test of the waters before Sydney, she knows better than anyone that the Games are still some three months away.

"This is my first real track race in ages, against real competition, so it will probably be a bit strange," she says. "But you have to start somewhere and I've been looking forward to it for a while now."

O'Sullivan has already tried out the track with some low-key races while training in Australia earlier this year, but Grand Prix events are a lot different. Here, everybody watches everybody else, eager to see exactly who is on form.

In the past, of course, O'Sullivan has always been the one to watch over 3,000 metres. Her European record of eight minutes 21.64 seconds hasn't been threatened in recent years and, while it is no longer run at major championships (the 5,000 metres now takes its place), O'Sullivan still regards it as her favourite distance.

What exactly she wants to get out of this evening's race, however, remains to be seen. There are a handful of notable competitors, including the capable Kenyan Leah Molat (with a best of 8:35.74 from last year) and three Ethiopians, although O'Sullivan has yet to fully consult the options with her coach Alan Storey.

"I'll talk to Alan closer to the race, to get some sort of clear idea in my head and then just test it out," she says. "It's a bit windy up here at the moment but hopefully by the evening it will be nice and still."

There are, she adds, no repercussions from the impressive show in Sunday's women's mini-marathon in Dublin, where she comfortably covered the 10,000 metre course - another of her options for Sydney - in a course record 31 minutes 28 seconds: "I felt very good after Sunday. It turned out to be a decent run so I was even able to take it easy in training this week. I did a bit on the track on Tuesday but it was very light."

So the main intention here will be to test the legs, test the form and then bring the lessons into the next phase of her training. She will have another race in Paris next weekend and then heads away for an intensive training block that will take her well into July.

Not as concerned about picking and choosing races is world 100-metre record-holder Maurice Greene. The man they call the Texan Cannonball has already shown his face on quite a few tracks this summer and this evening he wants to lay down another marker ahead of Sydney.

There, he wants to be the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the 100 and 200 metre double. Here, he'll probably provide another sub 10-second job and then scuttle off to the next venue with the healthy appearance fee from the meeting sponsors.

Also enticed to take part this evening is the Kenyan-born Dane, Wilson Kipketer - three-time world champion and world record holder over 800 metres. He, like O'Sullivan, has yet to win an Olympic medal and will also be a little more cautious about the number of races he chooses in the months ahead. Yet he rarely competes without providing some sort of excitement.

TV: Eurosport, 5.0 p.m.