Radcliffe
finally consecrated on the track
K Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
12 August 2002 -
Paula Radcliffe who had narrowly missed the gold
medal so many times, finally won two major titles in the span of 10 days. First
on an electric night in the City of Manchester stadium at the 2002 Commonwealth
Games she won the 5000m; nine days later in Munich she won the 10,000m at the
2002 European Championships.
Her time at 5000m in Manchester was the seventh fastest (she became the fifth fastest performer), while her 10,000m in Munich was the second fastest of all time. More significantly, they were both fastest times at these international championships, which is significant because championships are not conducive to the fast time.
Adding her 3000m Commonwealth record at 3000m: 8:22.20, in the Monaco leg of the IAAF Golden League, she has set records in each of her track races this year.
Ron Clarke of Australia was the best distance runner in the world during the 1960’s. Although he competed in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics as well as 1962, 1966 and 1970 Commonwealth Games, he failed to win any title at either 3 miles/5000m or 6 miles/10,000m, events in which he held world records. When Clarke visited Emil Zatopek in Prague, Zatopek gave Clarke one of his Olympic gold medals because in Zatopek’s words, “he deserved it.”
Paula Radcliffe has always been one of the best distance runners in the world, but this year she has taken herself to another level. Perhaps marathon training has increased her strength.
“As marathon training, Paula added a mid-week semi-long run in addition to a weekly long run on Sunday. All these were run under sub 6-minute mile pace at altitude” said he husband, coach and manager Gary Lough.
“I am stronger mentally and physically because of the training I did for the marathon. Previously I lacked the strength to execute my race plan. Today I was able to execute it,” said Radcliffe after winning the 5000m in Manchester. In Munich she also said, “The marathon made a difference to me. It made me stronger.”
With the expectation of Radcliffe’s first track gold, the City of Manchester stadium was radiating. When the 5000m runners came into the stadium, it erupted like a volcano. Every time she took stride outs down the back straight, the stadium came alive. Such was the atmosphere of the stadium when the race started.
“The plan was to make sure that the race was moving along at a good pace and then make the surge around 3000m,” said Radcliffe after the race. But with a 73.4 seconds first lap, it was not fast. “It was a little bit breezy and nobody was keen to take the pace,” Radcliffe explained. She took over the lead after one lap.
After a 71.7 seconds second lap, Radcliffe ran successive sub-70 seconds laps, and the race of attrition started. With 7 laps to go, the race as expected, turned to a duel between two pre-race favourites, Radcliffe and Edith Masai of Kenya. The end of the duel came unexpectedly early when Radcliffe ran a 67.85 lap (between five to go and four to go), and she was all alone. “I expected to make surges more than once, but the first surge worked,” said Radcliffe in the post-race press conference.
Near the end of the race when Radcliffe’s victory was imminent, the stadium really came alive. She continued to push the pace and won the first major track title of her long and illustrious career. After so many near misses including epic 10,000m races in both Sevilla and Sydney, where she worked so hard to run away from her rivals, it was the sweetest moment for both her and her fans who filled the stadium, for Radcliffe deserved the track gold more than anybody else since the great Ron Clarke. She finished in 14:31.42, a new Commonwealth record. Although Radcliffe said, “I was not thinking about the world record,” if it was not for the slow first lap (73.4) and not so fast second lap (71.7), it could have been the world record.
Radcliffe chose to run the 5000m in the Commonwealth Games, while her main aim in the European Championships in Munich was the 10,000m. “I am entered in both 5000m and 10,000m in Munich, but my main focus is the 10,000m. I will think about 5000m after I am done with the 10,000,” said Radcliffe after her victory in Manchester. Explaining why she did not run 10,000m in Manchester, Radcliffe said that running two such races within two weeks is not conductive to good performance, but running 5000m in Manchester was the perfect set up for the Munich 10,000m.
In Munich, she was expected to battle it out with the defending Champion, Sonia O’Sullivan of Ireland who recorded 31:33.19 on June 16. Because of her success with her front running in Manchester, Paula Radcliffe was expected to force the pace; and she did so from the start. Although Paula said the most important thing was to win (which is definitely true), she did keep up a sub 3 minutes 1000m pace. “I felt that by running hard from the start, I had the best chance of winning. I knew I was in shape to run around 30 (minutes for the 10,000m) and I was hoping to break it,” explained Radcliffe in the medallist’s press conference in Munich.
With Radcliffe forcing the pace (1000m in 2:59.16), Radcliffe, Sonia O’Sullivan, the defending champion and Fernanda Ribeiro, the champion eight years ago, had broken away by 1400m. Despite the extremely fast pace (2000m in 5:57.21) Radcliffe was setting, O’Sullivan tried to stay with her as long as she could. After the race O’Sullivan said that was the only thing to do, and she was right. Someone of her calibre should not run for the second place, if she is in shape. They ran together with Radcliffe in front for a few more laps, but by 2000m O’Sullivan and Ribeiro were losing contact. A lap later Radcliffe was all alone, while Ribeiro was also losing contact with O’Sullivan. Both Radcliffe and O’Sullivan ran the rest of the race alone, while Ribeiro was caught by Olivera Jevtic who was leading the chase pack around 3500m and at 5600m Ribeiro dropped out.
Radcliffe continued to run sub 30 minutes 10,000m pace despite the rain, which was quite heavy at times during the race. After the race when asked if the rain affected her performance, Radcliffe said, “Heavy rain did not bother me as much as one might expect. It was not too windy, which was good.” Her 1000m splits were: 2:59.16, 5:57.21, 8:56.84, 11:56.81, 14:57.65, 17:58.00, 20:58.52, 24:01.18, and 27:03.56. She continued to lap the slower runners, some even twice, ending up running extra distance. With one lap to go, the clock was indicating 28:52.25. She needed a 67.74 seconds lap for a sub 30 minutes 10,000m. It was not to be, but she won her second major title in ten days with the European record time of 30:01.09. “I think the first 3Km was little bit too fast. I think it would have been better if I run little slower at the beginning and speeded up at the end.”
In the medallists press conference Radcliffe said: “I am very happy to win the European Championships. It is also important and very special to have the European record. It was Ingrid Kristiansen’s record, who I looked up to for a long time, and I wanted to break her record. Kristiansen helped me a lot in my marathon preparation and she said it is possible to come back from the marathon and run faster on the track. She was right.” Asked of the possibility of breaking the world record, Radcliffe said, “I knew I was in shape to beat the European record, but not in shape to run 29:30 today. But perhaps if I go and work harder and become stronger...
“I don’t want to set a limit for myself, and that also goes for the marathon.”
