Former 5,000m World Champion Sonia O'Sullivan did not hold back in her criticism of Brian Fay's performance in the 5,000m final in the European Athletics Championships, after the Irish runner finished 14th with a time of 13 minutes and 29 seconds.
Fay finished nine seconds behind the Danish winner Jakob Ingebrigtsen in last night's final, despite a strong finish from the Dublin-born athlete. The current holder of the national 5,000m record, it was a disappointing result for Brian Fay.
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Sonia O'Sullivan Goes 'Full Roy Keane' In Criticism of Brian Fay's 5,000m Performance
Fay's disappointing result leaves him with just the 10,000m race left, with the final due to take place on Wednesday evening.
Speaking shortly after the race, on RTÉ, former World and European Champion Sonia O'Sullivan left little to the imagination as she criticised Fay's approach to the race. Describing Fay's strong finish, O'Sullivan sighed,
"Well, what's the point? You know, when you're off the back like that, I mean you need to be close."
At the time, Fay's finishing position was unknown, but it was clear he was not in the mix for the medals. In the final lap of the race, Fay overtook a number of his competitors as he stormed to the line. "He looks like he's getting past quite a number of people there", O'Sullivan observed,
"But, if he's got speed like that, then he obviously didn't try hard enough early on to, you know, go with the pack when the break was there."
From a tactical point of view, Sonia O'Sullivan argued that Fay is "very good in a consistent race where they're running even laps the whole way", but noted that this race did not fit into this category. She stated that "this race was a typical championship race where they start off slow and it's messy and their pace is up and down", and did thus not suit the Irish runner.
Sonia O'Sullivan assesses a strong finish to the 5,000m final for Brian Fay, who clocked a time of 13:29:48. pic.twitter.com/tsqD4kcnwl
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 8, 2024
The comment section of the clip on X, formerly known as Twitter, made for some funny reading, with one user noting, "She went full Roy Keane there", whilst another said "Ye should put Sonia on the rugby panel".
In contrast, speaking after the race Brian Fay said he was happy with his performance, running a strong final lap to finish 14th. Speaking to Athletics Ireland, Fay admitted that, "if you told me two months ago I was going to come 14th in the European Championships I'd be a bit disappointed, but I think my results over the past couple of weeks haven't really gone my way so it's nice to come in here and just have a positive result"
"Finishing 14th is positive and it's something in the right direction."
"You've got to take the small steps, small positives, to keep moving forward." He realised that the result was "not amazing, but look I had a good last lap. You know when you're fighting for your country on the last lap you really get going. I managed to salvage something out of it so, I'm happy"
"It's a positive step in the right direction. It's a good omen for things to come hopefully. It's a step up on the ladder moving forward to the Paris Olympics."
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