Athletics: Radcliffe the game stayer survives late fright

Paula Radcliffe proved herself one of the genuine thoroughbreds of world athletics here at Leopardstown racecourse yesterday as she successfully defended her IAAF World Cross-Country title in buffetingly windy conditions.

But as the leggy Briton approached the line, 20 meters clear of surprise package Deena Drossin, of the United States, it was fear rather than triumph which registered in her face as she momentarily took on the wild-eyed look of a bolting horse.

The cause of Radcliffe's distress was a piece of disinformation she had received upon entering the final long uphill drive into a headwind that stretched out the flags in front of the main grandstand for the full duration of the 8km race.

"Someone shouted out that Deena was right behind me and I only had two or three meters on her," Radcliffe said. "It panicked me a bit. I kept thinking back to '97 when Derartu Tulu beat me on the line."

If that occasion in Turin was the most excruciating of Radcliffe's defeats in this event, there have been several others only minimally less so.

But the Briton's achievement last year in the mud of Ostend, when she finally attained the senior version of a title she had won as a junior in 1992, meant that she entered this race with an unusual form of pressure. As defending champion, and with two of her perennial Ethiopian rivals, Tulu and Gete Wami, absent from the field, the 28-year-old Bedford runner had to deal with a huge sense of expectation which was reflected in her position as the 6-4 on favourite.

"I knew this was my race to lose," she said. "I couldn't afford to make any mistakes."

Radcliffe normally sleeps between nine and ten hours before a race, but such was the pressure she felt under here that she was unable to do so. Even kicking her husband and manager Gary Lough out into the single bed failed to do the trick.

"I was very jittery this morning," Radcliffe confessed. "But it was a nice pressure to have – better than having the pressure of 'she's come fourth again, she can't do it'." '

By finishing in 26min 55sec, nine seconds ahead of Drossin and 22 seconds clear of US bronze medallist Colleen de Reuck, Radcliffe completed the first leg of a double that will involve making her marathon debut in the Flora London event in just three weeks' time.

Some within the sport had suggested that doubling up in the World Cross was too ambitious a target so close to her first race over 26 miles, but yesterday proved to be the ideal preparation for her London challenge, especially as she finished without encountering any problems from the slight niggle of a problem with one or her knees which had commanded the attention of her Irish masseur Ger Hartmann in the week before the race.

"It was very tough going into the wind," she said. "As soon as we got down onto the course and started warming up we were virtually standing still so I knew it was going to turn into a tough person's race."

It very soon became clear that Radcliffe was that tough person as she followed her plan of leading over the first couple of laps, testing the going in the third and then "putting the boot in" on the last.

The final stages of the women's long course race made novel viewing as the east Africans who have dominated the event for so long finished outside the leading four, with the United States splitting Ethiopia and Kenya to take the team silver medal.

"I have always said that this year the main aim for me was the London Marathon, but if you asked me to choose between the two titles it would be a hard decision," Radcliffe added. "I can't see myself getting to next year and not wanting to go for a hat-trick."

Radcliffe paid tribute afterwards to the support she had received from the Irish crowd, who will turn their attention today to home runner Sonia O'Sullivan, who runs in the short course race less then three months after giving birth to her second child.