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 from Helsinki. She was previously the fastest female marathoner of all time, and held the Women's World Marathon 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, although she later entered the 2025 editions of the Tokyo and Boston marathons.
As of Sep 15, 2026: Marathon 2:15:25 (#7 all-time), 10 000 m 30:01.09 (#22 all-time), 2025 season best 2:53:46 (Apr 21, 2025, Boston, MA (USA)) · Last competition: Boston Marathon, Apr 21, 2025, 2:53:46 · World Championships: 1 gold, 1 silver · National record (3000 m) · 52 years old
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