Radcliffe key to Britain's marathon bid

Published on Monday 23 April 2007 11:59

PAULA RADCLIFFE holds the key to whether the British selectors send a women's marathon side to compete at this August's World Championships in Osaka.

Two years ago, Radcliffe stormed to a convincing victory at the worlds in Helsinki, with her gold-medal placing helping lift the side to bronze position in the team race. Mara Yamauchi, who along with Hayley Haining was one of the trio in the Finnish capital, clinched an individual slot for Osaka as she finished sixth for the second successive year in the Flora London Marathon.

Yamauchi - now a genuine world-class performer - just missed her personal best by 28 seconds when she clocked a time of two hours 25 minutes 41 seconds despite the hot conditions.

Liz Yelling, two places behind her, also achieved individual qualification for Japan when she sliced 14 seconds from her previous fastest with a mark of 2:30:44sec while Edinburgh's Kathy Butler dropped out after 16 miles.

Radcliffe has not yet decided whether to run the 10,000m or the marathon in Osaka, but if she was to do the latter Yelling would be likely to follow suit, with a Great Britain team containing the world record holder in with a chance of a medal in the team event.

Yamauchi, eager to race in Osaka, said: "I'm pleased to have come sixth again because it was a really good field, better than last year and I was pleased to get close to my personal best."

"I was not so pleased to run the whole thing on my own, but I suppose it was good for my discipline," she added.

Despite setting a lifetime best in a race won by China's Chunxiu Zhou by more than a minute from Gete Wami of Ethiopia in a world-leading time for the year of 2:20.38, Yelling was unhappy. She said: "I'm really disappointed - I really thought that I could do sub-two hours 30 minutes."