Third world record of year for Radcliffe

PAULA RADCLIFFE secured her third world record of the year yesterday with a stupendous performance over five kilometres, to win the Flora Light Challenge for Women in London’s Hyde Park.

Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu, was second in 15:20 with Sonia O’Sullivan third in 15:24.

Radcliffe broke away from a world-class field to break the record by three seconds, winning in 14 minutes 51 seconds.

In February, she ran the world road best for the 10km in Puerto Rico before smashing her own world record when she triumphed in the Flora London Marathon.

“I am going for the grand slam of world records,” joked Radcliffe, who also holds the leading mark over the 20km distance on the roads. It was her second victory in a week after a traumatic period where she was forced to give up on her hopes of running in the world championships just eight days before the action in Paris started. She had not recovered enough from the injury and illness which have blighted her year since her victory in London in April.

After winning the Nike 10km last Sunday, she secured another memorable victory,

The record had stood since last year after American Deena Drossin ran 14:54 in California but Radcliffe’s run, which smashed the course best by five seconds, sets her up for next week’s BUPA Great North Run and then the world half-marathon championships in Portugal in October.

“When you go into any race, you go into it meaning to win,” said Radcliffe. “It was just a case of going out there and running as hard as I could. I knew Derartu and Sonia were in good shape, you have to respect other people, but you have to believe you can win it.”

Radcliffe led from the start against a field which also included Catherine Ndereba.