Vienna is described as the ‘City of Dreams’ but Paula Radcliffe’s showing in the Austrian capital suggests the Olympic year of 2012 could turn into a nightmare.
The 38-year-old’s preparations for her first race since qualifying for the Games — yesterday’s Vienna Half‑Marathon — were hit by bouts of bronchitis and pleurisy.
But, even she could not believe how hard the race turned out to be. Her time of 72 minutes and three seconds was her slowest ever in a half-marathon by more than two minutes.
Radcliffe said: “I didn’t expect to be that bad. It should have been a test for the Olympics but it wasn’t a real test in the end.”
Marathon great Haile Gebrselassie was pitted against Radcliffe in a “catch me if you can” style race and the 38‑year-old Ethopian, despite starting eight minutes later, passed the Briton with nine miles to go.
Radcliffe added: “The plan was always to take a week easy and I think I need to take that week now to recover properly before I start heavy marathon training.”
