Watch Paula in the marathon live on BBC Two on Sunday 14 August at 1220 (BST) Radcliffe well beaten in 10,000m

Britain has yet to win a single medal at the Championships, but world record holder Radcliffe is not feeling any extra pressure on her to succeed.

"It's very important to me to win a major title," Radcliffe told BBC Sport. "But I just want to win the race.

"My expectations are the biggest because I know the work I've done. Now, it's about going out and realising it."

The 31-year-old goes into Sunday's race as favourite after her dominant victory in April's London Marathon.

Radcliffe was always Britain's best gold medal prospect, but now all hopes rest with her.

Radcliffe insists her disappointing performance in Saturday's 10,000m - where she finished ninth - has not affected her preparations for the marathon.

RADCLIFFE'S MARATHON RECORD London April 2002: Makes the fastest debut by a woman over the distance ever to win in a time of 2.18:56 Chicago October 2002: Smashes the world record by two minutes as she wins in 2:17:18 London April 2003: Recovers from a freak training accident to break own world record in a winning time of 2.15:25 Athens August 2004: Intense heat sees her drop out at the 23-mile mark New York November 2004: Radcliffe makes amends for Athens loss winning a sprint finish with Susan Chepkemei in 2:23.10 London April 2005: Radcliffe wins her third London title in 2:17.42 with dominant display that included an unscheduled toilet break

In fact, her characteristic attention to detail saw her driven around the course in the centre of Helsinki for a close inspection.

The world record holder will face competition for the title from Romania's Constantina Dita-Tomescu, defending champion Catherine Ndereba and a strong contingent of Japanese athletes.

And Radcliffe, who is ranked as the world's number one road runner, is taking nothing for granted in Helsinki.

"I'm against the same people here as in any of the city marathons," said Radcliffe.

"I'm looking forward to the race and I'm looking forward to running but I don't count anything until I cross the line."

Radcliffe went some way to exorcising her Athens demons, where she failed to finish both the marathon and 10,000m, by notching up comfortable marathon victories in New York and London.

And the British gold medal hope is confident there will not be a repeat of her Athens trauma in Helsinki.

"It's like two different people," Radcliffe explained. "I haven't got the stress and the worry and I'm not sick this year.

"When you go into the marathon healthy, you've done the training and you're confident, that makes it much easier."