Paula Radcliffe goes into Tuesday's 10,000m final insisting that she can win her first major international title on the track despite the heartbreak of the past two years.

At last summer's Olympics she led the way at a searing pace for the majority of the race, only to be out-kicked on the final lap - a repeat of her experience in the 1999 World Championships.

In Seville she took silver behind Gete Wami; in Sydney she ended up fourth.

But world cross-country champion Radcliffe says she has learnt from those experiences and has come back a better athlete.

"This is only my second 10,000m at the Worlds and only my fourth at any major championship," she said.

"It took me a long time to become world cross-country champion. I had to keep going back there until I did it."

Radcliffe is an enormously dedicated athlete, someone who could never be accused of shirking in training.

She puts much of her confidence this year down to the hard work she has put in since the disappointment in Sydney.

"I'm in the best shape I could possibly be in," she said.

"Looking back at what I've done, there's no stone I've left unturned.

"There's no mental block there," she said.

"It's a question of how I'm feeling. When Wami came past me at the world cross-countrys, I knew I had another gear so I didn't panic.

"The point is that you have to get to that stage of the race confident that you have something left to enable you to push on."

Radcliffe's gutsy runs have endeared her to the British public and media alike.

Kristiansen inspiration

She will be able to count on overwhelming crowd support once again in the Commonwealth Stadium, something she says in turn can lift her level of performance.

"I definitely felt it in the world cross-country, when the support of the crowd was great," she said.

"It's something that is very important. I wouldn't underestimate the power of having the crowd behind you."

Her inspiration is Ingrid Kristiansen, the legendary Norwegian who still holds the European 10,000m record with the 30mins 13.73secs she ran in Oslo in 1986.

"She was one of my idols as I was growing up," said Radcliffe.

"She was someone who won world titles on every surface and at every distance from 3000m up to the marathon.

"That's what makes a great distance runner. You should be able to run on all three surfaces - road, cross-country and track."

Radcliffe already has world crowns on the first two. Now it is time for her to complete the set.