Radcliffe wants drug tests prior to US race

PAULA RADCLIFFE, winner of two major championship gold medals in the last month, has interrupted her preparations for the Chicago Marathon and replied to drug allegations made against her two brilliant performances.

In her own determined way, Radcliffe has asked the International Association of Athletic Federations to carry out even more stringent tests for EPO and any other drugs in the build-up to the American race. It was the newly-crowned Commonwealth 5,000metres and European 10,000m champion’s wishes to prepare for her eagerly-awaited clash against world record-holder Catherine Ndereba in Chicago without intrusion from the media. But Radcliffe, who broke her Commonwealth record - missing the world record by only three seconds - in Manchester then decimated Ingrid Kristiansen’s European record in Munich, has been stung by French-inspired drug criticism.

Today, Radcliffe will announce on the website of the International Amateur Athletic Association that she wants the world governing body to immediately carry out random blood and urine tests on her, before and after racing in Chicago. A crusader against drugs for her entire career, Radcliffe, who wears a red ribbon to symbolise her cleanliness from EPO and other drugs which have poisoned the sport recently, has been stung by criticism, particularly the daily French sports newspaper, L’Equipe.