LONDON, 18 April 2004 — Paula Radcliffe may be missing but the British long distance running phenomenon’s influence will still be keenly felt when the runners line up for the London Marathon today.
Radcliffe produced one of the best ever performances by a woman athlete 12 month ago when slicing nearly two minutes off her own women’s marathon record in a time of two hours 15 minutes 25 seconds.
But she has declined the chance to defend her crown, preferring instead to concentrate on preparing for the Olympics. In her absence Joyce Chepchumba will be among the favorites to lift the marathon, first run in 1981, for a third time.
The two-time winning Kenyan reflected: “Her (Radcliffe’s) time’s been an inspiration to all women marathon runners. We know we must go faster ourselves now.
“I don’t want to predict times, but all of us know running under two hours 20 minutes is very possible.” The field includes China’s top marathon runner — Sun Yingjie, and the world championship bronze medalist will be easy to spot with her unorthodox style.
Her coach Wang Dexian compares her style to “waddling like a duck”. The 26-year-old athlete herself said she believed her way of running saved energy. “Possibly other runners are technically superior and my technique is not very advanced, maybe even backward, but I have learnt to run like this.”
And her coach is taking the approach that if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it.
Unlike Radcliffe, Ethiopia’s Olympic and world champion Gezahegne Abera will be there to defend his men’s title which he only captured after a close five-runner battle over the last mile 12 months ago.
While Abera is cutting a dash through the streets of London, his wife, Elfenesh Alemu, one of Ethiopia’s top women runners, will be going through her final preparations for tomorrow’s Boston Marathon.
Boston’s prize money is higher than London’s but that doesn’t worry Abera who revealed this week that he and his wife pool all their prize money.
Greene, Montgomery to Race, but Against Each Other
In Walnut, California, Maurice Greene and Tim Montgomery are among the marquee athletes expected at the Mt. SAC Relays today, but the US sprint giants appeared to be heading away from a 100m match-up.
Greene, the 2000 Olympic 100m gold medalist, three time world champion and former world record-holder, hasn’t raced Montgomery — who broke Greene’s world record with a time of 9.78sec in 2002 — haven’t competed against each other since the 100m at the US outdoor championships in 2002.
Greene is slated to make his outdoor 100m-season debut after relay outings in Texas and California, headlining the field for the elite invitational event that also includes J.J. Johnson, Justin Gatlin and Kaaron Conwright. Montgomery was an early entry in a section of the university open 100m event, which includes Liberia’s Sayon Cooper running for Abilene Christian University.
