Radcliffe makes up the ground

HELSINKI -- This one was about redemption, about making up for an aborted Olympics, about finally winning the big one for Britain. Paula Radcliffe may be the world record-holder. She may have won London and Chicago and New York. But she'd never won on the track or the road when the rest of the planet was chasing her. Now, she has.

''It's up there with running the world record," the 31-year-old Radcliffe reckoned, after she'd loped away from defending champion Catherine Ndereba and the rest of the field to win the women's marathon at the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships by the largest margin (1 minute 4 seconds) since 1997 while shattering Ndereba's meet record by nearly three minutes in 2 hours 20 minutes 57 seconds.

From the moment the morning came up cool, breezy, and drizzling -- perfect English weather -- this was Radcliffe's day and she seized it, leading at every checkpoint on the loop course and busting the race open with 8 miles to go. ''It was hard out there," said Radcliffe, ''but I enjoyed it quite a bit, too."

That was a novelty, at least at the global level. Ever since Athens, where she dropped out of both the marathon and the 10,000 meters, Radcliffe had been hearing that she was a front-runner who couldn't handle the squeeze at the only two meets where everybody shows up.

Even though she'd come back and won at New York in November and claimed London for the third time in April, even though Radcliffe came here with the year's fastest time by more than five minutes, her doubters were prepared for a Blowup by the Baltic. ''No excuses this time," one of them wrote in a message on Radcliffe's website. ''If you fail, don't darken our shores again."

After Radcliffe finished a faded ninth in the 10,000 meters on the meet's opening night, her critics said she'd been foolish, throwing away a golden chance in the marathon for a fool's errand against swifter Ethiopians on the track. But the 10,000, Radcliffe insisted, was merely a speed workout. This wasn't Athens.

''Last year I knew I had a lot of problems going into the Olympics," Radcliffe said. ''Those were not necessarily all the reasons for the way it worked out, but this season I just made sure I was healthy coming into Helsinki and concentrated on what I wanted to do."

As soon as the gun sounded, Radcliffe went to the front and stayed there, along with Japan's Yumiko Hara and Ethiopia's Asha Gigi, with Ndereba leading a loose pack of a dozen a few seconds behind. After 12 miles, the race was down to four -- Radcliffe, Romania's Constantina Tomescu, Ndereba, and Kenyan countrywoman Helen Kimutai. It stayed that way for another 4 miles, before Radcliffe put the hammer down.

By 18 miles, Radcliffe led Tomescu by 11 seconds and Ndereba by 16. By 21 miles, Ndereba was 28 seconds back, Tomescu 45. Game over. ''At the last water station, someone said, 'You're 50 seconds up, just enjoy it,' " said Radcliffe.

By then, Ndereba had all but conceded. ''If I catch her, that's fine," said the four-time Boston victor, who finished in 2:22:01, with Tomescu taking bronze in 2:23:19. ''If I don't, that's fine. The titles are there to be won and to be lost. It doesn't matter to me."

It mattered greatly to Radcliffe, who filled a global gap in her resume. ''It definitely adds something to me as a runner," she said. All that's left is Olympus -- and a quaint old holiday run in Boston.

With Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor bypassing the marathon here (she finished third at Falmouth yesterday), the Americans were missing their only podium contender. Their top finisher was Turena Johnson-Lane, who was 26th in 2:34:43, followed by Jill Boaz (30th, 2:36:29), Emily LeVan of Wiscasset, Maine, (35th, 2:38:32), Jennifer Crain (36th, 2:39:02), and Mary Akor (50th, 2:57:18). ''A great race for me, with a PR by almost a minute and a half," said the 32-year-old LeVan, who was the top domestic finisher at Boston this year and was making her international debut. ''I'm so pleased to be here and represent the USA. I'll take home a lot of experience."

Also last night, Olympic champion Osleidys Menendez of Cuba broke her world javelin record with an opening heave of 235 feet 3 inches to win the women's gold medal . . . Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi became the first man to win both the 800 and 1,500 meters by taking the shorter race in 1:44.24 . . . The Russians were deprived of a sweep in the women's 1,500 (Tatyana Tomashova, Yuliya Chizhenko, Olga Yegorova) when Chizhenko was disqualified for obstruction. France's Bouchra Ghezielle moved up to bronze . . . Ukraine's Yuriy Krymarenko came out of the pack to win the men's high jump with the lowest height (7 feet 7 1/4 inches) in 22 years . . . Russia (3:20.95) won the women's 4x400 relay ahead of Jamaica (3:23.29), while Kenya's Benjamin Limo (13:32.55) outkicked Ethiopia's Sileshi Sihine (13:32.81) and Australia's Craig Mottram (13:32.96) to take the men's 5,000.