Sophie O’Sullivan beats her mother’s best time over 800 metres

Sophie O’Sullivan has overtaken her mother Sonia on the Irish all-time 800 metres list, improving her best by more than a second when running 2:00.28 at the Lignano meeting in Italy.

Less than 48 hours after running a season best of 4:05.77 for 1,500m at the Morton Games in Santry, O’Sullivan finished fifth in a high-quality race, victory going to Eloisa Coiro from Italy in a lifetime best of 1:59.26, ahead of Australia’s Lindan Hall (1:59.72).

O’Sullivan’s previous best of 2:01.43 was set in Germany last September, her 2:00.28 now faster than the 2:00.69 her mother ran back in 1994, which stood as an Irish record for 19 years.

It also moves O’Sullivan to fourth on the Irish all-time list, behind Ciara Mageean’s Irish record of 1:58.51 set in May, another excellent performance by the 22 year-old O’Sullivan, who last month won her first Irish senior 1,500m title, 24 years after her mother won it for a fifth and final time.

It is ideal build-up too as O’Sullivan heads to the Paris Olympics, joining Mageean and Sarah Healy in the 1,500m after improving her best to 4:02.15 last summer.