Paula Radcliffe woke up at the start of the most important year of her career yesterday to discover that she is officially the holder of three more world records.
The International Association of Athletics Federations has chosen this Olympic year to recognise, for the first time, road-running and race-walking performances as world records rather than bests.
Radcliffe can therefore claim to hold the record marks for 10 kilometres, 20km and the marathon. "I am really pleased that the IAAF is to recognise performances achieved on the roads as world records," said the Bedford runner. "It is a big step forward and it is important for athletics [at large] to have records and not just track and field.
"Road running has long caught the public imagination and many more participate in road events than on the track. People can relate to a 10km road race or a marathon, so it is important to get rid of the confusion over world bests."
Radcliffe's performance over 5km has not been officially recognised, however, as the new records start at 10km. She has also been denied the half-marathon mark as the 65min 40sec she produced in the Great North Run in September was achieved on a downhill course. The time is 64sec faster than the official record set by South Africa's Elana Meyer.
The introduction of the new marks should end the anomaly that means that, while Radcliffe is overwhelmingly considered the best female distance runner in history, she is not among the top 50 in the IAAF rankings as she has not competed on the track for over a year.
It proved to be an expensive inconsistency for Radcliffe last year, when the IAAF used its rankings system for the first time to determine its athlete of the year. The award and its $50,000 prize went instead to the South African high jumper Hestrie Cloete.
Radcliffe is still keeping her options open of running either the 10,000 metres or the marathon at the Olympics in August. "I'll tackle what I consider to be my best event," she said. "Although the marathon is uppermost in my mind, I haven't ruled out 10,000m."
Radcliffe's first race of the year is expected to be on February 29 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the venue where she set the world 10km record of 30:21.
