Sonia O'Sullivan continued her Olympic preparations at the Balmoral Road Races this afternoon, finishing second to reigning World 10,000m champion Berhane Adere in their BUPA 5,000m confrontation.
O'Sullivan, fresh from a fast victory over the track in the United States last Saturday, opened a decisive gap in the second half of the race along with the Ethiopian.
Then the Olympic 5,000m silver medallist put in a strong kick which immediately pulled her two metres ahead of Adere.
But that acted as a spur to the African star, winner over five miles at Balmoral last year, who powered away for a winning time of 15mins 04secs.
That drew her seven seconds clear of O'Sullivan with Emile Mondor third in 15mins 22secs.
O'Sullivan said: "I tried to get away from her, but it was if she was waiting for me to make the move and immediately responded."