Just six weeks after her daughter Eilish was born, she contested an international 5km race in Florida and won a bronze medal at the 1991 World Cross Country Championships. In June 1991, she ran her lifetime best for the 10,000 m with 30:57.07 in Hengelo, becoming only the third woman to run under 31 minutes, moving to second on the world all-time list behind Kristiansen and narrowly ahead of Bondarenko. In August 1991, she won gold in the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In November of that year at the New York City Marathon, her first marathon, she won with a time of 2:27.23, breaking the record for a debut marathon by three minutes.