World Marathon recordholder Paula Radcliffe (GBR) (© Getty Images)
World marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe who revealed yesterday that she is expecting her second child at the end of September, is still targeting the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The 36-year-old has always insisted she planned on having another child before the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where she is determined to win. With no global championships taking place this year and a full year to return comfortably to marathon racing, 2010 offered the perfect opportunity to fulfil their desire to have a second child.
Radcliffe and her husband Gary Lough, whose daughter Isla was born in January 2007, are delighted that Isla will soon be joined by a sibling.
“We're very pleased,” Radcliffe told Press Association Sport. “We are very lucky that everything so far has worked out as we had hoped. As always when nature is involved it's very hard to plan, but the idea was that we could get pregnant this year and have 2011 to comfortably come back to racing.”
“I plan to run through as before but to come back a bit slower than last time when I was back a bit too quickly. 2012 is the big goal and we think this works out perfectly for that.”
Radcliffe has not competed since finishing fourth in last November's New York marathon and, given the timescale of the new baby's arrival, it seems likely she will not run a marathon this year.
Radcliffe is still in full-time training and recently returned from a camp in Portland, Oregon, where she opted for a different approach to her preparations. Instead of going to a high-altitude location in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she trained with some of the USA's top runners.
Phil Casey (Press Association Sport) for the IAAF
