As Paula Radcliffe bids goodbye to the London Marathon, here’s why her world records will stand the test of time
The world’s best long distance runners have taken to the capital’s streets to compete in the London marathon, yet much of the nation’s attention will be focused not on the elite field, but in the masses of club athletes and in particular one 41-year-old who has recently been struggling with an achilles injury.
More on this story: Here's everything you need to know about the marathon – including tips, weather forecast and elite runners
Paula Radcliffe is running in her final London Marathon, the race in which she set a world record time of 2:15:25 some 12 years ago.
Organisers are pushing the #thankyoupaula hashtag, while tributes are sure to sound out from the crowds lining the Mall for the athlete whose records have not only been unmatched, but exist in a category of their own.
As demonstrated in our graphic below displaying the 2,500 fastest times in women’s marathon history, no one has even got near Radcliffe’s 2003 record in London nor at any other marathon. Neither has Radcliffe’s woman-only race record of 2:17:42 set in London in 2005 been in any danger of being trumped. On desktop, you can hover over any dot to see who ran that time, when, and where. Click on the prompts to highlight times run in London, or Paula's times.