Britain names small but strong team for Berlin World Championships road events

June 2, 2009

Britains Athletic Federation (UK Athletics) nominated 3 women for the road events of the IAAF World Championships 2009 in Berlin.

The two fastest ever female marathon runners Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi are joined by the UK’s fastest ever female walker Johanna Jackson. Officials stated, that the target is on getting individual medals and therefore no complete teams were nominated for the World Cup team competition. Another factor for the small team are the World Half Marathon Championships 2009 that will take place in Birmingham later in this year. UK Athletics wants to nominate a team for male and female events for this competition on home soil.

Radcliffe was selected based on her victory in last years New York City marathon (2:23:56). The 35-year old holds the marathon world record and won the world championships title in Helsinki 2005 and is now eager to regain the title after a recent operation on her toe.

Mara Yamauchi was 6th in last years Olympic Games and finished this years London marathon in 2nd with a PB of 2:23:12h. In the last world championships the 35-year old finished 9th in Osaka/Japan, the country where she currently resides.

The youngest member of the team will be race walker Johanna Jackson (24). Jackson holds the UK record at 20K race walking with 1:31:16h and collected Olympic experience by finishing 22nd in last years Beijing Games.