LONDON, July 31: World marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe has set her sights on a return to competition in the next three months. The 33-year-old marathon world champion has not been selected in Great Britain’s team for the World Championships in Osaka at the end of August as she continues to build up her fitness after back problems.

Radcliffe has had to recover from stress fractures at the bottom of her spine linked to the birth of her daughter Isla in January. But she is currently training at Font Romeau in the French Pyrenees and insists she is not too far from being ready to compete again.

“I’m not going to rush or take any shortcuts trying to get back competing,” Radcliffe said. “Obviously it’s too late for me to go to Osaka, it seems as if the world championships have crept up on me overnight.

“If things go to plan, I am hoping to return to racing in the early autumn.”

Radcliffe had hoped to race the 10,000metres in Japan, the distance over which she won a silver medal at the Seville championships in 1999. But the European record holder has not had the opportunity to reach the qualifying standard.

Although Radcliffe is desperate to start running, she knows there is no point rushing back in case the injury flares up again.

“I’ve only done a couple of track sessions and I bruised my foot in one,” she added. “I had to back off and there’s no way I’m going to set off my back problem again by being impetuous.”—AFP