34 minutes and 54 seconds.
English snooker superstar Ronnie O’Sullivan known not only as the best stickman of all time but also for his love of jogging.
However, it was no mean feat when O’Sullivan clocked 34:54 in a 10-kilometer road race in Caen, France in 2008. He was 32 years old at the time.
In 2008, the time would have taken O’Sullivan to 40th place in the Finnish statistics, if the sample is limited to runners aged 32 and older. Last year, the ranking would have been 45th in that age statistic.
But a lot has happened in 16 years.
– I have suffered from so many injuries that my knees and legs can’t hold up like before. Nowadays, I would run ten in 42 minutes, 48-year-old O’Sullivan estimated for Urheilu on Monday evening.
O’Sullivan agreed to give a short interview when the match compatriot Gary Wilson against ended in Tampere-talo. O’Sullivan won the match 6–3 and entertained the audience by, among other things, bagging a hitting streak of over 120 points in the last set.
After the match, it was already close to midnight, and the star wanted to go to the hotel as quickly as possible. It had been a long day, as O’Sullivan had only flown to Finland in the morning.
When it comes to O’Sullivan’s calendar, we talk about long work weeks.
– We spent 19 days in China on a screening tour that included performances in eight different cities. That meant five flights and three bullet trains in China alone, O’Sullivan’s manager Jason Francis told .
The two had time to spend a day in England before flying to Finland, where O’Sullivan will play three exhibition matches. After Wednesday’s show, there is a flight to Bulgaria, where the tour will continue for the rest of the week.
To make such a pace possible, O’Sullivan takes care of his physique every day. Get to know Tampere on foot.
– On Tuesday and Wednesday, I plan to run 30-minute runs in the morning. If I run longer, my body gets sore. I haven’t been able to run for three weeks because my knees have felt sore. Age does not come alone, O’Sullivan said, but added after:
– In the evenings, I plan to go to the gym before the evening matches. Tour life is like boot camp for me, where I’m like Rocky Balboa, O’Sullivan said, referring to the actor Sylvester Stallone to portray the legendary boxing figure.
Raised the standard to new heights
O’Sullivan has been playing at the absolute top of snooker for 32 years. Physical training and nutrition have played a significant role, especially in the 2000s, when O’Sullivan has won all seven of his world championships and broken most of the records in the sport.
The importance of healthy lifestyles was emphasized especially in the 2010s, when the number of ranking tournaments affecting the world list doubled from the previous decade.
O’Sullivan has spoken in favor of nutrition and exercise in several of his biographies. In addition, he has been publishing a book devoted solely to this topic in 2019. The older he gets, the more O’Sullivan says he invests in his well-being.
Many top players over the age of 30 have followed the example of O’Sullivan’s professionalism, but in the case of several young snooker players, the master’s teachings have not yet caught on. Numerous snooker professionals have told Urheilu that especially the Chinese youngsters practicing in Sheffield, England, have not understood the level of requirements associated with being a professional today.
O’Sullivan doesn’t want to take a stand on what young players do, but he wants to talk about it through personal examples.
– Over the years, I have only wanted to develop and maximize my potential. I learned by watching others how to take care of diet and fitness. How to get all possible rest out of sleep? And so on. I have learned from the best. I hope that it will carry on in the future.
Confused Nurmen with Zatopek
After Monday’s exhibition match, O’Sullivan thanked the Finnish audience in his victory speech and praised, among other things, the country’s running history.
When Urheilu asked more about the subject, Lasse Virénin four Olympic victories from 1972 and 1976 were the foundation for O’Sullivan. On the other hand, a hundred years ago, the information was not quite enough. When Paavo Nurme’s name came up, O’Sullivan interrupted.
– Paavo Nurmi. Wasn’t he Czechoslovakian? O’Sullivan asked.
The snooker legend had confused Nurme’s 1940s and 1950s folding with the running legend to Emil Zatopek.
Virén’s 10,000 meter record was 27.38.35, Zatopek’s 28.54.2 and Nurmen’s 30.06.2.
O’Sullivan’s top 10 record of 34.54 was set on the road, but if the times were playfully compared to the legends, O’Sullivan would have lost 18 seconds to Virén and 15 seconds to Zatopek per 400m lap on the even pace table. Instead, Nurmi would have been less than 12 seconds faster than O’Sullivan per lap.
O’Sullivan’s top ten pace means he ran three 3400m results in a row in the classic Cooper’s test.