Radcliffe smashes own record in London

Paula Radcliffe smashed the women’s marathon record with a successful defence of her London Marathon title today.

Radcliffe became the first woman to run under two hours 16 minutes with a new record time of two hours 15 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the record she set when winning the Chicago Marathon.

She put criticism of the use of male pacemakers behind her to dominate the race from start to finish.