Athletics Career Highlights
Paula Radcliffe, Great Britain Born : 1973 in Northwich. Radcliffe has emerged from "galant loser" to become the world's best women's distance runner. Her stamina and determination on the track were always hampered by a lack of a sprint finish and courageous runs all too often led to no medals. World success in Cross Country has been followed by similar achievements in the Half Marathon and Marathon. 2002 was her annus mirabilis with track gold medals and a marathon world record. In 2003 Paula took nearly 2 minutes of her own marathon world record and also broke the Half Marathon world best. Failure in the Athens Olympics was redeemed by her win in the 2004 New York Marathon and her third London Marathon triumph in 2005. After the birth of her baby, she returned to further success with a win in the New York Marathon in 2007. Injury hampered her Beijing Olympic challenge.

 

Titles

Outdoor

1994:
Cross Country: English National
Cross Country: English World Trials
1995:
Cross Country: English World Trials
1996 :
1997:
1998:
Cross Country: European
1999:
2000:
Half Marathon: World
Half Marathon: Great North Run
2001:
Half Marathon: World
Cross Country: World 8Km
2002:
Track: Commonwealth 5000m
Track: European 10,000m
Marathon: London
Marathon: Chicago
Cross Country: World 8Km
2003:
Marathon: London
Half Marathon: Great North Run
Half Marathon: World
Cross Country: European
2004:
Marathon: New York
2005:
Marathon: London
2006:
2007:
Marathon: New York
2008:
Road: Great South Run

World Records

2002:
Marathon: 2.17.18
2003:
Marathon: 2.15.25
Half Marathon: 65.40 (World Best)