Radcliffe gave birth to her daughter Isla in January 2007

Paula Radcliffe has revealed she is expecting a second child in September.

The 36-year-old said she and husband Gary Lough wanted a second baby in 2010 to give her time to return to action in time for the 2012 Olympics.

The timing of her pregnancy means Radcliffe will miss the the European Championships in July and the Commonwealth Games in October.

"We're very pleased. We are very lucky that everything so far has worked out as we had hoped," said Radcliffe.

"As always when nature is involved it's hard to plan, but the idea was we could get pregnant this year and have 2011 to comfortably come back to racing."

The world marathon record holder gave birth to her first child, daughter Isla, in January 2007.

Radcliffe returned to training within two weeks of her 27-hour labour, but plans a more leisurely approach with her second child.

"I plan to run through as before but to come back a bit slower than last time when I was back a bit too quickly," she said.

"The 2012 Olympics is the big goal and we think this works out perfectly for that."

With no global championships taking place this year, Radcliffe should have time to return to full fitness ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Radcliffe, who has not competed since finishing fourth in last November's New York marathon, has remained in full-time training and recently returned from a camp in Portland, Oregon.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version