Paula Jane Radcliffe (born 17 December 1973) is a British former long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), the 2002 Chicago Marathon winner, and the 2005 World Champion in the marathon. She was previously the fastest female marathoner of all time, and held the women's marathon world record with a time of 2:15:25 for 16 years from 2003 to 2019, when it was broken by Brigid Kosgei.
Radcliffe is a former world champion in the marathon, half marathon and cross country. She has also been European champion over 10,000 metres and in cross country. On the track, Radcliffe won the 10,000 metres silver medal at the 1999 World Championships and was the 2002 Commonwealth champion at 5000 metres. She represented Great Britain at the Olympics in four consecutive games (1996 to 2008), although she never won an Olympic medal.
Her running has earned her a number of accolades including the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Laureus World Comeback of the Year, IAAF World Athlete of the Year, AIMS World Athlete of the Year (three times) and a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). She has also been nominated for World Sportswoman of the year on several occasions. In 2010, she was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Loughborough University Hall of Fame in 2015.
Radcliffe ended her competitive running career at the 2015 London Marathon,"'Come on Paula': Radcliffe's London Marathon is final competitive race", The Guardian, 26 April 2015 although she later entered the 2025 editions of the Tokyo and Boston marathons.
Early life Radcliffe was born on 17 December 1973 in Davenham near Northwich, Cheshire. Her family then moved to nearby Barnton where she attended Little Leigh Primary School.. icCheshireOnline, accessed 21 November 2007 Despite suffering from asthma and anaemia, she took up running at the age of seven, influenced by her father who was a keen amateur marathon runner and joined Frodsham Athletic Club. Her family later moved to Kingsley.
When Radcliffe was aged 12, the family moved to Oakley, Bedfordshire and she became a member of Bedford & County Athletics Club. Her joining the club coincided with a talented and dedicated coach, Alex Stanton, building the women's and girls' sections into one of the strongest in the country, in spite of Bedford's relatively small size.
Radcliffe's father became club vice-chairman and her mother, a fun-runner, managed the women's cross-country team. Her first race at a national level came as a 12-year-old in 1986 when she placed 299th out of around 600 in the girls' race of the English Schools Cross Country Championships. She finished fourth in the same race one year later.
Radcliffe attended Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College. She went on to study French, German and economics at Loughborough University, gaining a degree in Modern European Studies.Paula's winning streak takes time... BBC, accessed 08/11/07
Running career Radcliffe's father was a keen marathon runner as a young man. He took up the hobby again in an attempt to lose weight after giving up smoking.Radcliffe ready to deliver her own historic message Guardian, accessed 08/11/07 He famously appears in the photo of John Lennon playing on stage with The Quarrymen on 6th July 1957, the day John first met Paul McCartney, https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/get-back-boys-who-became-beatles-hunter-davies-review-nx5qmq9gnDespite suffering from asthma Radcliffe took up running at the age of seven. In 1992 Radcliffe discovered that she suffers from anaemia. Radcliffe was diagnosed with exercise induced asthma at the age of 14 after blacking out whilst training. During her father's training jogs in the woods, Radcliffe and her brother would often run with him for a mile or two. Radcliffe attended Frodsham Athletic Club until the age of nine, Radcliffe became a member of Bedford & County Athletics Club, when they moved to Oakley. There she was coached by Alex Stanton, who still fulfilled that role in her professional career. Stanton started to coach Radcliffe at the age of 12 after his wife Rosemary spotted her talent. At the age of 10 Radcliffe, accompanied by her father, watched Ingrid Kristiansen run in the London Marathon, inspiring her to become an athlete. Her first race at a national level came as a 12-year-old in 1986, when she placed 299th in the English Schools Cross Country Championships. In 1991 Radcliffe won the English Schools 1500 metres title.Biography. spikesmag.com
1992–1996 At the 1992 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Radcliffe, took the Junior title, beating Wang Junxia and Gete Wami in Boston, after recovering from a bad asthma attack in the weeks beforehand. Radcliffe then went to the Junior track World championships and finished fourth in the 3,000 metres. In her first senior race, in Durham at the start of 1993, Radcliffe finished second to Olympic Champion Derartu Tulu. At the age of 19 Radcliffe finished in seventh place at the 1993 World Championships. Radcliffe claimed back to back World Cross Challenge wins at Durham and Mallusk to start the 1994 season. Radcliffe missed the World Cross Country Championships with a foot injury. Radcliffe was initially misdiagnosed with the injury which forced her to miss all of 1994 and thought about quitting as the injury would not get better. At the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo in 1995 Radcliffe outkicked Tulu to run the third fastest time by a British woman for the 5,000 metres. At the World championships, Radcliffe qualified comfortably for the final of the 5,000 metres, where she finished fifth. At the 1996 Securicor Games Radcliffe ran the 5,000 metres finishing second. The Olympic Games saw Radcliffe finish fifth in the 5,000 metres. Radcliffe rounded off 1996 by finishing third in a cross country race in Durham.
1997–2000 1997 saw Radcliffe split Wami and Tulu, and win the silver medal at the 1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Radcliffe became the first woman to defend the Fifth Avenue Mile title. In the 1997 World Championships, Radcliffe finished in 4th place over the 5,000 metres. Wami again outsprinted Radcliffe in her final race of 1997, in the Brussels cross country event. Radcliffe had dropped out of Durham's cross country race with flu at the start of 1998, but bounced back to finish third in Dublin. At the 1998 edition of the World Cross Country, Radcliffe again won the silver medal. Radcliffe set a new world best for on the road around Balmoral Castle. At the European Cup Radcliffe, captaining the team, won the 5,000 metres and finished second in the 1500 metres. Radcliffe set the pace in the 10,000 metres at the European Championships, but finished fifth. Radcliffe, who was suffering from a virus, took some time off, before returning to the cross country discipline, where she won her first senior title by taking the European Long course race. 1998 finished with a fourth-place finish in Brussels.
Radcliffe started 1999 by finishing fourth in Durham. At the World Cross Country championships, Radcliffe finished with the bronze medal. Radcliffe then ran the seventh fastest 10,000 metres ever at the European 10,000 metres challenge. At the London Grand Prix, Radcliffe took two seconds off her own British record in the 5,000 metres. Radcliffe took the silver at the World Championships behind finishing behind Wami in the 10,000 metres. Radcliffe and Loruope found themselves at the front and tried to get rid of Wami but failed as the Ethiopian took the title.Davis Nick (August 1999) Johnson breaks World 400m Record Roundup of day 6 of the 7th IAAF World Championships in Athletics. IAAF At the Berlin Golden league meeting, Radcliffe finished eighth in the 5,000 metres. Radcliffe then ran the second fastest half marathon by a British woman, finishing third on her debut at the distance at the Great North Run, despite getting into a tangle with a spectator.
Starting 2000, Radcliffe won the Stormont Cross Country race for a third time. Radcliffe then finished fourth in Durham.Knight, Tom (March 2000) Wami once again in Great North Cross – Maranga and Ivuti head Challenge standings. IAAF Radcliffe then sustained a knee injury. For the European Cup, Radcliffe joined a host of other British athletes by pulled out injured. However, Radcliffe soon returned to the track for the first time since March after a virus, a knee operation and a calf muscle tear had kept her out; to race over 1,500 metres in Barcelona. In her first race since the World Cross Country, Radcliffe finished 11th. At the London Grand Prix, Radcliffe finished second, one second outside of her British record, in only her second track race of the season. At the Weltklasse Zürich IAAF Golden League meeting Radcliffe competed in the 3,000 metres and finished in fourth place. At the UK trials won the 5,000 metres title. The British Grand Prix saw Radcliffe race over 3000 metres, where once again she finished third. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Radcliffe finished sixth in her 10,000 metres heat to qualify for the final. In the final Radcliffe set a new British record, but crossed the line in fourth and was highly disappointed to miss out on a medal. Radcliffe returned to action by winning the BUPA Ireland five-mile race. At the Great North Run, Radcliffe ran a new European record for the half marathon, as she won the race in a time of 67 minutes and 7 seconds. Radcliffe was then selected for the 2000 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Mexico. Radcliffe won her first World title, despite suffering a panic attack when her nose tape, designed to help her breathe, fell off halfway round. The good run of form came to an end, when she turned her attention to the Cross Country events and finished third in Brussels. Radcliffe confirmed that her last race of the year would be the Great North Cross Country. There Radcliffe defeated Tulu by seventy-five seconds, in eight inches of snow.
She won back-to-back titles in the 2000 and 2001 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, winning a third title in 2003.
Cross country champion On 24 March, Radcliffe won the Ostend, Belgium-held World Cross Country Championships 2001 title in a time of 27:49.Radcliffe takes World Cross-Country title BBC, 24 March 2001
Held in March in Dublin, Radcliffe defended her title in the Women's Long Race when she won the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships title for a second year. She won in 26:46.Radcliffe retains X-country title in Dublin UK Sport, Rob Burgess 25 March 2002
Marathon world record In 2002, Radcliffe made the move up to the marathon, a decision that immediately paid off with victory at her debut in that year's London Marathon on 14 April 2002 in a world's best time for a women's only race (2:18:55).Debut win for Radcliffe BBC, accessed 06/11/07 Her time was the second quickest in women's marathon history behind the world record of 2:18:47 set by Catherine Ndereba, of Kenya, in Chicago.Debut win for Radcliffe BBC, 14 April 2002
Later that year, Radcliffe set a world record time of 2:17:18 in the Chicago Marathon on 13 October 2002,Radcliffe sets marathon record BBC, accessed 06/11/07 breaking the previous record by a minute and a half.
She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2002 Birthday Honours for services to athletics. She said: "It means a great deal to me, it's a great honour and it really tops off an amazing year. To come here and receive this and to meet the Queen at the end of it just finishes it off perfectly."