Athletics: Radcliffe on Track to Avoid Relegation

Paula Radcliffe will step on to a track to compete for the first time in almost two years tomorrow at the European Cup here in Poland in a race that is as important to her as to the women's team she is captaining.

The Bedford runner is competing in the 5,000 metres in what represents the beginning of her countdown towards the Olympics in August where, as the world-record holder, she will line up as the favourite to win the gold medal in the marathon.

Radcliffe has not raced since February, when she was beaten over 10km in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a result she put down to not having fully recovered from a virus. She then withdrew from the following month's world cross-country championships after injuring a hamstring during training. That led to a minor operation on a hernia.

The 29-year-old has now made a full recovery and been training at her altitude base in the French Pyrenees for what will be her first track event since she won the European 10,000m at Munich in August 2002 in the second fastest time in history.

That performance came a few days after she had won the Commonwealth Games 5,000m before an adoring crowd in Manchester, when she just failed to clock a world record. "Training has gone well," Radcliffe said yesterday. "You never know until you've raced but I'm pleased with how things have gone. This race comes at a time when I would normally want to ease off in training a bit. So it's a good stepping stone for Athens.

"I went into Puerto Rico with a few doubts, so I'm looking forward to getting into this race and running well. It is really about seeing where I am in my preparation. The main thing is to win the race; we'll need all the points we can get."

The British team have been badly hit by a series of injuries which last week led to representatives in every event between 400m and 3,000m withdrawing. Radcliffe will be hoping she can help ensure they avoid the embarrassment of being relegated.

"First and foremost it is about winning the race and leading the team to a good performance," she said. "I want to run well but I'm not going in with any specific times or limits in my mind. I never do that anyway.

"I'm glad to get back on the track. When things are taken away from me for a while, I tend to get the best out of it [when I return]. I intend to do that again."

Radcliffe plans to follow up with a 10,000m at Gateshead on June 27. That will probably be her last race before the marathon in Athens, as she returns to seclusion to avoid the pressure of expectation.

She acknowledged: "There is pressure but the biggest pressure comes from myself and performing as I'm capable of and as I should do."