Sonia O'Sullivan will keep her opponents guessing for as long as possible before revealing her plans for the World Cross-Country Championships in the Algarve next Saturday and Sunday.
O'Sullivan, who travelled back to London from Melbourne at the weekend, is not due to arrive in Portugal until late on Thursday evening. And even then, she may not disclose her hand.
"I want to have a look at the course before making up my mind," she said. "Obviously, I am reasonably clear what I'm going to do but I need to check out a few things when I get there."
Almost certainly, she has already decided to run in the long-course championship on Saturday and the only point which would appear to be at issue is whether she goes in the shorter race, over 4180 metres, the following day.
This was the plan she executed so well two years ago when she went to Marrakesh, with the long-course championship confirmed as her only event. It is history now that she ran so well on the first day, that she reported back to the starter some 24 hours later and duly became the first to win both titles.
Now, as then, she has prepared for the championships with a long stint in Australia and reports suggest that, two years on, she is running just as well. In successive weeks, she attained Olympic standards for three events, the 1500, 5000 and 10,000 metres in an impressive illustration of her range of distances.
That was designed to send out the unequivocal message to all her rivals that to prevent from winning, they're going to have to produce something extra special on fast, parkland terrain. Yet, she makes it abundantly clear that if she fails, it will not be through complacency.
"The standard keeps getting better all the time and after missing out on last year's races in Belfast, I've no doubts that the Algarve is going to be even harder for me than Marrakesh," she said.
"Yet, I have to be happy with the way I ran in Australia. And if I can take that kind of form into the races at the weekend, I should be competitive."
The dimensions of the task awaiting O'Sullivan came more sharply into focus yesterday with confirmation that Kenya are sending a powerful squad to the championships in which substantial prize money will again be on offer.
Included in the Kenyan team are such vastly experienced runners as Sally Barsosio, Irene Chepkosgei and Rose Cheriyot. And among the Ethiopians scheduled to take part are Kutre Duleche, Genet Gebrgiorgis and Luiit Legesse.
The European challengers include Anita Weyermann of Switzerland, Annemari Sandell (Finland) and Britain's Paula Radcliffe but the name which which will occasion most apprehension for O'Sullivan's supporters is that of the Portuguese athlete, Fernanda Ribeiro.
Over the years Ribeiro has been involved in some massive struggles with the Irishwoman and now, running on home terrain, all the signs point to another in the making.
The main body of the Irish squad will travel to Portugal tomorrow and they will be joined there by the American-based Breda DennehyWillis who has been running in Australia in recent weeks.
She achieved an Olympic qualifying standard in recording career best figures of 15 minutes 34.11 seconds for the 5000 metres at Tallahassee at the weekend but since she was running in a mixed race, they cannot be accepted in the context of selection for the Sydney Games.
