Radcliffe conquers course, self doubt

The Britons had to endure a real long wait — nine days to be precise. At last, they struck gold — their first — when Paula Ra...

The Britons had to endure a real long wait — nine days to be precise. At last, they struck gold — their first — when Paula Radcliffe won the women’s marathon at the World Championships here today. In doing so, Radcliffe posted a championship record time of 2 hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds and also realised her dream of major title win.

Defending champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya came second at 2:22.01 for silver, while Romania’s Constanina Tomescu claimed the bronze with a time of 2:23.19.

‘‘It was hard out there but I enjoyed it quite a bit too,’’ Radcliffe said, as she recalled last year’s happenings in Athens. In a way, Radcliffe was destined to claim her major title after all these years, particularly after missing a medal at the Olympics last year when she had to pull out after 37 km.

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A protege of Alex Stanton, Radcliffe had suffered injuries and stomach problems just before the Games. The unbearable heat and unsuccessful medication took away the last ounce of her strength and it was a great disappointment for her fans the world over, more so to the Britons. Radcliffe, however, said it was not a revenge of sorts but she wanted to ensure before coming here that she stayed fit. ‘‘I just made sure I was healthy coming into Helsinki and just concentrated on what I wanted to do.’’

Unlike Athens, there were no such problems here for her on every account. A nice, cool weather after the morning rain had evened out things. Even otherwise, the course was a flat one as compared to Athens and it was a Radcliffe show from start to finish.