On  a crisp, sun-drenched morning alongside the banks of Lake Michigan here in the Windy City, Paula Radcliffe took another giant stride to establishing herself as the greatest female distance runner in history with a stunning world record in the Chicago Marathon.

She ran an astonishing time of two hours 17 minutes 18 seconds in only her second marathon, blowing away the previous mark set by Catherine Ndereba in the corresponding race last year by 89 seconds. It was the biggest improvement to the record for 19 years.

Even in this, the greatest year any female distance runner has put together, 28-year-old Radcliffe was truly awesome. What was supposed to be a head-to-head between her and Ndereba was in fact Radcliffe against the clock once she had dropped the Kenyan after 12 miles. Ndereba ran 2:19:26, the fourth-fastest in history, but still finished more than two minutes behind.

Radcliffe's unique running style has been mocked as resembling that of a "nodding donkey" and a "bobble-head doll". She can laugh all the way to the bank. This was worth in prize money and bonuses £180,000, the most any female athlete has earned for a single day's work. To be added to that are further six-figure rewards from this race and her shoe sponsors.

It eclipsed even the £144,000 Radcliffe earned for her performance in London six months ago. That was the race which convinced her she had the ability to set the world record - she ran 2:18:56 on her debut at the distance despite running the last 16 miles on her own.

Here she enjoyed the benefits of competing in a mixed race, which meant she was accompanied by male runners for most of the 26.2 miles, although by the end it was them who were hanging onto her rather than the other way round.

Radcliffe was so fast she finished 22nd overall in a race of 37,500 won for the fourth time by America's Khalid Khannouchi in 2:05:56 as for the first time in history five men dipped below 2:07.

Radcliffe's year is unprecedented. This was her ninth race of 2002 and she has also won the world cross country championship, along with European and Commonwealth titles, the London marathon and set four European and seven British records.

"I've got a world record so this ranks at the top," said Radcliffe. "Ever since London I've been working towards this and my track races went 100 per cent to plan. Then we went away and put in a lot of hard work and I'm just happy it's all paid off."

Wearing a sky-blue bobble hat, wrap-round shades, white gloves and flesh-coloured, knee-high support hose Radcliffe set off after the record from the gun with steely determination as temperatures hung in the low 40s.

Aided by the fact the wind was never as strong as forecast, she was always on target, passing 13.1 miles in 69:05 and then speeding up in the second half to cover it in 68:13. Only in the final mile did Radcliffe's head start bobbing in trademark fashion.

"I went through a bad patch after 22 miles when I just had to put it back together and when I got to two miles to go I knew I'd be okay," said Radcliffe. "I knew I was in good shape but you also have the nerves and you wonder whether you will be able to hold it together."

Radcliffe is the first British female to be recognised as the world-record holder for the marathon for 38 years. The last runner to have the honour was Scotland's Dale Greig, who ran 3:27:45 in a race on the Isle of Wight at a time when women were not officially allowed to run the distance.

Radcliffe is now at the forefront of a revolution. In the last 13 months more than three minutes have been taken off the record and Radcliffe's time is 22 seconds faster than Jim Peters ran when he set a world record in 1954.

"I guess there was a mental barrier but women are training harder and that is pushing back the boundaries," she said.

"I think she can still go a lot faster," said Carey Pinkowski, the Chicago race director. "She was so fresh at the end and recovered remarkably quickly."

Radcliffe can probably write her own cheque to defend her title in London in April and to return here next year but it is by no means certain she will run another marathon before the 2004 Olympics.

She does not have to do one as the International Association of Athletics Federations announced recently that they will accept qualifying times for Athens from October 1, 2002. Radcliffe has already said that she will run the 10,000 metres at the world championships in Paris next August.

"We will do all we can to persuade Paula to run in London," said Nick Bitel, the chief executive of the London Marathon. "It certainly won't be a question of money but ultimately it will be a racing decision. Does she want to run a spring marathon?" It is unlikely she will be rushed into a decision. "Now I'm going to have a holiday and I'm putting away my trainers until after that," said Radcliffe.