By Steve Cram BBC Sport

Even by her own high standards, Paula Radcliffe's 10,000m victory at Gateshead was something special.

Radcliffe left the field trailing in her wake

Given the blustery weather and the fact there was nothing at stake, the way she cruised to victory was absolutely phenomenal.

The winning time - 30 minutes 17.15 seconds - was her second fastest 10,000m ever.

And with the conditions adding on 15 or 20 seconds, it gives you some idea of the shape she's in at the moment.

Other athletes might have said "it's a windy day, I'll slow down" - but Paula doesn't work like that.

She only had a pacemaker for the first five or so laps, so it's got to go down as one of the best ever 10,000m.

So the signs are very good for the Olympics. She just needs to stay clear of injury between now and Athens.

Another British medal hope who had a good day was 400m hurdler Chris Rawlinson.

It wasn't a top class field, but it was hard enough to put him under some pressure, so that win should give him confidence.

When he has a chance of winning, his confidence is sky high, but when he's under pressure, that's when he has to learn to keep his nerve.

Kelly Holmes can also take heart from her win in the 1500m.

1500m running is more about putting yourself in the right position and doing the right thing at the right time Cram on Kelly Holmes

It would have been a major disappointment if she had not won, as there was no-one in the race that should have given her much trouble.

But 1500m running is more about putting yourself in the right position and doing the right thing at the right time.

Kelly has run fewer 1500s than she has run 800s, so every time she wins at the longer distance, it does her good.

In the men's 100m, Kim Collins looked very impressive, against a field including the best of British hopes.

He isn't a showy runner - he won't produce fast times when he doesn't need to - but his winning time (10.21 secs) was his best run of the year in difficult condtions and against a good field.

And well done to Yelena Isinbayeva for a new world record in the pole vault - under the circumstances, that was a real surprise.