Another uninhibited display of forceful running gave her victory in the Nike London 10K road race in a time of 30 minutes 38 seconds.

That shaved a second off the previous best, achieved by Liz McColgan 13 years ago in Orlando, USA.

Before setting off as part of a 20,000-strong field in Richmond Park, Radcliffe believed she had little chance of breaking any kind of record.

But she was always the leading woman and at halfway was actually on course to smash the current world record.

Her 5km time of 15 minutes two seconds was well inside the pace needed to eclipse the existing mark of 30 minutes 29 seconds, set by Asmae Leghzaoui of Morocco in New York in June.

However, the course and conditions worked against Radcliffe during the second half of the race and she missed a world best by just 10 seconds.

"I thought I had lost it between five and six kilometres but at eight kilometres I was back on course," she said.

"It was a very tough course but it was more the wind than anything else that slowed me.

"After the first fast five kilometres the next took me three minutes 23 seconds and I had to fight really hard to get back on schedule."

The men's race was won by Paul Kosgei, Kenya's world half marathon gold medallist, who crossed the line in 28 minutes 23 seconds.