BRITAIN's Olympic selectors are happy to give Paula Radcliffe every chance of proving her fitness for the Beijing Games after she admitted she was in "a race against time".
The marathon world record holder yesterday flew back to her French base at Font Romeu in the Pyrenees after attending the British Olympic Medical Institute in London, where she had a check to monitor her recovery from a stress fracture of the femur.
Radcliffe, who jetted out of Stansted Airport yesterday, said: "I'm going back to continue my training – but yes, it is going to be a race against time."
The 34-year-old world record holder has already been selected to run in the Olympics and UK Athletics performance director Dave Collins is pleased with her progress. "She's still training very hard and working in a very professional fashion towards aiming to compete. That's where we are," he said.
"She's making progress. We're very, very happy to support her. She's a tremendously experienced and knowledgeable athlete. We've been making regular progress check-ups, some here, some in France."
The aim of her latest test in a monitoring process which has been taking place on a regular basis since she picked up the injury was to determine whether the high-intensity training she has been undergoing has adversely affected her recovery. But it is understood she is progressing well.
Now Radcliffe, as announced last week, will pursue her bid to attain maximum fitness to enable her to compete in what will be a fourth successive Olympic appearance.
Radcliffe knows she has just 33 days to the start of the marathon but is prepared to delay her decision as long as possible to take part and challenge for the title.
Scotland's Hayley Haining, Radcliffe's official reserve, is continuing to train for Beijing in case she is required as a replacement.
"It is not a nice situation to be in, where you could be taking the place of an athlete who is injured and has earned the right to be there," Haining said.
"At this stage they have to know either way if she is breaking clear of the injury, and if Paula is cleared to go, I would say 'good luck' and I hope she does really well.
"I spoke to the technical director of endurance last week and I will keep in close contact with him over the next few weeks to see if there is a need for me to go out to Beijing."
The full article contains 422 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
