Alemitu Bekele of Turkey eyes the indoor circuit after Bilbao success.

Alemitu Bekele's victory at the 2010 European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country event in Bilbao on Sunday brought a smile to her face again after several months at the end of last year when the Turkish runner feared she would never be fit enough to run internationally again.

The 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships 3000m gold medallist contracted a severe stomach virus last summer which eventually led to her spending a month in an Istanbul hospital, with a drip in her arm for much of the time in a bid to clean out her system.

"I discovered after the World Championships that I had a severe infection because I felt very sick. I didn't know how I got it," reflected Bekele, who finished a disappointing 13^th in the 5000m final in Berlin.

Her coach Ertan Hatipoglu takes up the story.

"Alemitu spent one month in hospital and then had another month of complete rest. She only started training again in December and she is still far from in best shape."

"She went back to Ethiopia for two months to train and see family as she is originally from there so this race (in Bilbao) was a very good result for her."

Bekele showed in Bilbao that, despite her ailments, the sprint finish which she used to such good effect over the lap at last year's European indoors in Torino was still there, leaving her club mate and compatriot Belaynesh Olijira trailing in her wake 300m from the line on Sunday.

She now switches her attention to the indoor circuit and has races in the next week. At the GE Galan meeting in Stockholm on Wednesday night she will run 5000m and then Bekele returns to Spain on Saturday to run in Valencia over 1500m on Saturday.

"She will rest again and get ready for the World Indoor Championships in Doha. Three races in a week will provide a good indication of what form she is in and what we need to do ahead of going to Doha," added Hatipoglu, who was the former coach of Elvan Abeylegesse and guided her to her 5000m world record of 14:24.68 in 2004, which remains the second best time over the distance by a European runner.

Bekele is looking to do well at the World Indoor Championships and break new ground as no Turkish athlete has ever won a medal at the event, not even Abeylegesse.

Success in Doha will also provide a big promotional boost to the 2012 World Indoor Championships, which will be staged in Istanbul.

However, Bekele also has her eyes on success at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona this summer as she has yet to win a medal at a major outdoor championship.

With Barcelona several months into the distance she has yet to confirm her plans but she is most likely to concentrate on the 5000m, the distance at which Abeylegesse took the bronze medal at the last edition of the Championships in the Swedish city of Göteburg four years ago.