Radcliffe in New York to prepare for Berlin

Women's marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe will run in the New York City Half-Marathon this weekend, saying she would use Sunday's race, her first since winning the New York Marathon 10 months ago, to gauge her readiness for the IAAF World Championships in Berlin following bunion surgery on her right foot in March.

"Recently, my training has started to go very well. I'm definitely ready to run a half-marathon, and the NYC Half-Marathon will give me important feedback about where I am," Radcliffe said. "After the race in New York, I will consult with my coaching and medical teams and we will make the final determination as to whether I am ready to run the marathon in Berlin. It is certainly my hope to compete there."

Radcliffe is a late entry into a women's race already boasting a stellar field including defending champion and two-time Olympic medallist Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and America's 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Deena Kastor.

Meanwhile, the former 100 metres world record holder Asafa Powell and four other Jamaican athletes who were threatened with a world championship ban, have been cleared to race.

Powell, along with 100m Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser, 400m Olympic gold medallist Melanie Walker, hurdler Brigitte Foster-Hylton and sprinter Shericka Williams, had failed to report for Jamaican national team training in Nuremberg.

That led to their federation considering taking them off the team for the world championships, which start on Saturday.

Powell's agent, Paul Doyle, said on Monday that an email from Howard Aris, the Jamaican Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) president, implied the five athletes could miss the championships after skipping the training camp.