Sabrina
Yohannes for the IAAF
8 June 2001 - New York - Dressed in a summery top befitting the warm New York City weather, Paula Radcliffe smiled modestly as her credentials were listed during a press conference for Saturday’s Mini Marathon 10K. The Briton, who has twice won the Fifth Avenue Mile here, then blushed as announcer and Mini co-founder Kathrine Switzer recalled Radcliffe’s blistering pace at the Sydney Olympics, where she led her competitors to Olympic and personal record podium finishes while ending up fourth herself.
In the six months that followed the Games, however, Radcliffe has snapped up two world titles, the half-marathon honor and the senior cross country crown she had coveted since winning the junior title nine years ago.
“The cross country was a really big thing for me,” she said. “It’s something that’s there now and I’ve achieved it. Because it’s there, I’m more relaxed.”
She felt her newly-boosted confidence and frame of mind meant she could attack Saturday’s race more effectively. “I’m also coming into it hungry, because I haven’t raced now for six to seven weeks,” she said.
Radcliffe, who is gearing up for the Edmonton world championships, is also looking for a fast time, which she had hoped for in Barakaldo, Spain in April, when she clocked 30:55.80 over 10,000 metres.
“It wasn’t as fast as I would have liked it to be,” she said.
Although her only previous 10K road race was in 1997, when she ran 31:47, Radcliffe ran a fast 10K split enroute to a half-marathon win in the Great North Run, in the UK last year and clocked a track best of 30:26.97 in Sydney, making her favored enough in Saturday’s race that questions about her beating the 1980 record of 31:00 for the hilly course were raised.
“I think the most important thing is definitely to try and win the race; that’s what I’ve come here to do,” she said, but did later add: “I think the best time for breaking a record is when you’re not trying.”
With multiple Mini champion Tegla Loroupe not entered and 1999 third-placer Lidia Simon having recently pulled out with a training injury, Saturday’s race appears to be shaping up as a duel between Radcliffe and Portugal’s two-time Olympic 10,000-metre medallist Fernanda Ribeiro, although with several other notable competitors.
Three women who placed in the top ten on New York’s streets last year are back: Restituta Joseph of Tanzania was fourth in the Mini, and Ludmila Petrova of Russia was a surprise winner of the November marathon, while Kenyan Florence Barsosio placed fifth behind her.
The reigning Paris marathon champion Barsosio is using the Mini to work on her speed for the world championship marathon, as is Russian Lyubov Morgunova, who earned a berth with her third-place finish in Boston, four places ahead of Petrova. Petrova’s Edmonton hopes now rest on her upcoming 10,000-metre track performance, towards which she is hoping for a good
clocking in New York. Saturday’s field also includes Kenyan veteran road racers Jane Ngotho and Jane Omoro, who placed seventh and eighth in the 1999 Mini, and Ethiopian Eyerusalem Kuma, the runner-up at the Carlsbad 5000 in April.
“I think the Ethiopian girl is very strong, and Florence is very strong,” said Radcliffe. “And I was really impressed with the way Petrova ran in New York.”
But Ribeiro, who won the Atlanta Olympic 10,000-metres in 1996 and then took the last medal in front of Radcliffe in Sydney in 30:22.88, presents the biggest challenge. “I always really respect her, because she can turn out a performance like the Olympics from nothing really, having hardly raced at all,” said Radcliffe. Ribeiro was a double-medallist at both the 1995 and 1997 track world championships, earning 10,000-metre gold in 1995, but did not finish in 1999, when Radcliffe took silver.
Of the 20 times the two women have raced one another to date, Ribeiro has placed higher 12 times, but only once – namely at Sydney – since 1999. Their only meeting on the roads came at Balmoral, Scotland, in April, where Ribeiro finished third behind runner-up Radcliffe. The Briton’s recent cross-country credentials – she also took a short course silver this year, in addition to two silvers and one bronze in prior years – are better.
“We’re close on the track,” said Radcliffe. “The road, I’m still learning about, but I think she’s pretty strong.”
As Ribeiro, who arrived in New York Thursday evening, takes to the roads in the U.S. for the first time, Saturday’s race, a Mini Marathon debut for both women, will prove telling.
