Date : 15th July 1994. Sonia O'Sullivan of Ireland and Yvonne Murray of Britain went head to head in a 3000m race at Crystal Palace in London. On that evening 20 years ago today, Sonia went on to win the race and set a new European record of 8:21.64.
Even though the record was later just broken by Gabriela Szabo in 2002 (8:21.42), it is still the Irish national record. These are the 5 fastest Irish women over 3000m....
1 8:21.64 NR Sonia O'Sullivan 28 Nov 69 1 GP London 15 Jul 1994
2 8:43.74i NR Mary Cullen 17 Aug 82 1 Valentine Boston MA 13 Feb 2009
3 8:49.51 Monica Joyce 16 Jul 58 1 San Diego CA 25 May 1984
4 8:50.40 Maria McCambridge 10 Jul 75 3 Madrid 16 Jul 2005
5 8:51.33 Catriona McKiernan 30 Nov 69 Nice 15 Jul 1992
As you can see, no other Irish woman has come within 20 seconds of her time. Only 19 Irish women have ever broken the 9 minute barrier.
This poor quality video shows Sonia O'Sullivan setting the record back on the 15th of July 1994.
What a legend Sonia is. A genuine and humble person too. A real honour to run with her in the great island ten each year.
ReplyDeleteA class act and a truly world class athlete. Hope that eventually Ireland can produce an athlete of
ReplyDeletethe same standard again.This is of course with the exception of Catherina Mckiernan multiple world xc medallist and London Marathon winner in 2:22