Bronchitis puts Radcliffe in doubt
By Tom Knight (Filed: 23/07/2003)
Paula Radcliffe is doubtful for next month’s World Championships in Paris after it emerged last night that she has been suffering from bronchitis.
The illness is the second major blow to affect Radcliffe since she returned to training at altitude in the French Pyrenees after her world record run in the London Marathon.
Sidelined: Paula Radcliffe could miss next month’s World Championships
Her husband and manager, Gary Lough, said the infection meant she had missed nine days’ training, on top of the time she was forced to take off because of a leg injury sustained last month.
The training missed because of the leg injury forced Radcliffe to withdraw from London’s Super League meeting at Crystal Palace on Aug 8 and she was planning to make the World Championships 10,000 metres her first race of the summer.
Lough said: "Paula was back in training after getting over the injury when she picked up bronchitis.
"When you’re training at the level Paula is, you are susceptible to all sorts of bugs. If the injury was all she had to worry about, it would have been OK. But to be hit by two things at this stage means the circumstances have changed.
“Paula’s obviously not jumping up and down but she is fine and getting on with things.”
Lough added that as a result of this latest setback, Radcliffe will not be among the first wave of British athletes named on Tuesday after this weekend’s World Championship trials in Birmingham.
The hope is that she can recover enough to be added to the team when the final selections are announced on Aug 11, just 12 days before the championships begin in the Stade de France.
Before injury and illness struck, Radcliffe was considered the odds-on favourite to win gold in the 10,000m. Victory would bring her a first global title on the track and it was also assumed that she would attempt to win the 5,000m later in the championships.
Radcliffe’s problems have come after an unprecedented run of success. Named World Athlete of the Year in 2002, the 29-year-old won the London and Chicago marathons, the World Cross-Country Championship and the European 10,000m and Commonwealth 5,000m.
She completed a remarkable 12 months on April 13 by shattering her world marathon record with the 2hr 15min 25sec she clocked on the streets of London.
Now her plans are on hold. “We have to be realistic and take one day at a time,” Lough said.
"Everything is up in the air. No decisions have been made and it looks as if we’ll have to wait until the last possible moment before we commit to Paris.
“We’re not where we want to be and there isn’t a whole lot of time. Paula likes to prepare properly for championships and a lot depends on how things pan out over the next couple of weeks.”
Lough was reluctant to estimate the chances of Radcliffe competing in Paris, and should she resume her normal level of training there remains the risk of the illness returning.
:eek: 
