Paula Radcliffe ended her long wait for a first global gold by winning the world marathon title on the streets of the Finnish capital on Sunday.
The 31-year-old world record holder put her Athens Olympics disappointment behind her, when she failed to finish the marathon and 10,000 metres, to win in a championship record of two hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds.
"This was for me," said Radcliffe. "It was important for me to win this title because I knew I was capable of doing it and my team knew that too. I knew I was in good shape."
The Englishwoman, cheered on by a vociferous British contingent in a near-empty Olympic stadium, raised her arms in triumph at the finish before embracing husband Gary Lough.
Radcliffe, whose winning time was over five minutes slower than the world record she set in London in 2003, then sportingly clapped silver medallist Catherine Ndereba home.
TOUGH COURSE
Kenya's 2003 world champion was never in contention for gold as Radcliffe dictated the pace throughout the race and shook off her rivals past the 30-km point of a looping 42.195-km course.
Ndereba clocked 2:22:01 and Romania's Constantina Tomescu (2:23:19) won the bronze after battling it out with Radcliffe through the middle stages.
"I knew it was a tough course," said Radcliffe. "My plan was just to keep a decent pace and then put in some surges in the last 15 kilometres or so. Constantina helped me out a bit because she put some surges in."
Japan's Olympic champion Mizuki Noguchi did not compete in Helsinki.
Radcliffe finished ninth in the 10,000 metres final on the opening day of the championships, a race she made clear had been a training run.
"I was disappointed with the 10,000 because I didn't run as well as I felt I should due to a number of things, mostly because I was focussing on this and had to keep something in my legs," said Radcliffe.
"But it was a relief to get out there this morning and feel good and just enjoy the race and the support as well."
