ATHLETICS/World Championships: Even Emil Zatopek would have been impressed. In the end it wasn't just that Paula Radcliffe had finally won a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships, but also the way she won it.
As soon as she crossed the line in the old Olympic Stadium in Helsinki in two hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds the athletics statisticians got busy.
The most impressive championship marathon victory of all time? Possibly. It was definitely the fastest women's championship time (by over two minutes) and brilliantly executed by leading from start to finish. Radcliffe had a winning margin of 64 seconds and had dropped most of her rivals before the race got going.
Yet the one statistic no one could resist was tied to the 1952 Olympics in this same city, when Zatopek ran 2:23.03 to win gold in the men's marathon - completing a sweep of distance races and establishing the Czech runner as the greatest of his generation. That Radcliffe ran over two minutes quicker here gives her a claim on being the greatest of her generation.
It seemed a little strange to witness Radcliffe so moved at winning the world title considering she's won six already - three times in the world cross country, including once as a junior, and also three world half-marathon titles. Not forgetting her world records. Yet yesterday's victory came loaded with personal redemption and vindication, proving the ghosts of last year's Athens Olympics were no longer howling at her, and that at her best she was still invincible.
She ran a cool, calculated and marvellously controlled race. Given Britain were relying on her to win their first and only gold medal of the championships the pressure was even greater than it should have been. She declined any heroics and did what she needed to do, gradually increasing the tempo every five kilometres until she only had Constantina Tomescu of Romania for company.
Shortly after halfway the medals were effectively decided. Radcliffe had passed in 69.49, with Tomescu holding her ground, and Catherine Ndereba of Kenya a mere three seconds down. Yet Ndereba appeared the only real threat, her carefully-judged pacing bringing her to Olympic silver last year, and gold at the world championships the year before.
As expected, Tomescu, now aged 35, faded badly over the final 10 kilometres and ended up with the bronze in 2:23.19. Ndereba never even got to challenge Radcliffe and took silver in 2:22.01. Given the demanding course they were all remarkable times.
Nothing was going to stop Radcliffe over the final miles. She looked that good. It then took her over an hour to get through the mixed zone such was the level of interest in her victory - and the question of what happened in Athens last year was constantly to the fore. Radcliffe preferred to keep things separate.
"I think this is my biggest moment so far, yeah," she started. "It's definitely up there with breaking the world record. And I think it definitely adds something to me as a runner. But it was totally different than last year, because this time I was healthy and the preparations had gone very well. And I finished feeling very strong.
"Winning is the most precious thing for me. I knew I was well prepared to win, and that it was up to me to go out and win it. I felt good, and just stuck to my race plan the whole way. All the pressure, though, was coming from myself. I hadn't been reading anything at all about what other people were saying. It was just important to show that things can go right on the day."
All week long people had been pointing at Radcliffe's ninth-place finish in the 10,000 metres as some sort of crack in her invincibility. But she'd run over five minutes quicker than anyone else in yesterday's field this year alone, and the much-hyped Japanese threat was almost that distance behind. Yumiko Hara was the best of them in sixth (2:24.20), while Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia ran a fine race to take fourth in 2:23.30.
"I was always comfortable," added Radcliffe. "I was disappointed after the 10,000 metres and still feel I should have run better there, even though I was preparing for the marathon.
"I think if someone had been with me at the end I could have run faster. I knew it was a tough course. I watched the men's race and saw how they suffered on the last lap. So I wanted to save something for that last lap. But I was playing around a little before that, putting in a few surges just to test people out. I wasn't too worried at all when Tomescu stayed with me . . . Once I got away I knew they'd have to run a lot faster than me, because I was always going to maintain my pace."
At 31, Radcliffe was running her fourth marathon in 12 months - including Athens, where she dropped out with four miles remaining. Surprisingly she didn't rule out doing another this year, possibly New York in November, but deep down the elusive Olympic medal is what will drive her for the rest of her career.
"Beijing," she admitted. "That's still the long-term goal. I'll enjoy this and then go away and make sure I recover. But I still enjoy the track, and I'm not finished there yet." And the demons Paula, are they now gone forever? "I don't know about that." This then is one redemption song with a few verses yet to be written.
