British legend Paula Radcliffe to return to marathon running in 2025

10 years after she last ran the 42.195km distance, British athletics legend Paula Radcliffe will return to the event she made her name in by taking on the 2025 Tokyo and Boston Marathons.

The 51-year-old set the women’s marathon world record in 2015, holding the top spot on the all-time list for a full 16 years until Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei broke the mark in 2019.

Radcliffe’s return will see her take on two marathons in the space of just over six weeks, and will also make her a Six Star finisher, a prize awarded to runners who complete all six of the original Marathon Majors.

In her glittering athletics career, she won the London and New York City marathons on three occasions, as well as the Chicago Marathon in 2002.

Paula Radcliffe inspired by Paris 2024

A three-time World Cross Country champion and gold medallist in the 2005 World Championships marathon, Radcliffe never managed to reach the Olympic podium, although she did compete at four editions of the Games.

However, last year, she returned to the Olympic stage to run in the public race at Paris 2024, the Marathon Pour Tous, where she competed in the 10km race alongside thousands of amateur runners on the same day as the Olympic men’s marathon.

On her new podcast, ‘Paula’s Marathon Run Club,’ which she hosts alongside British two-time Olympian Chris Thompson, she spoke about how much she enjoyed the thrilling atmosphere of running at the 2024 Games.

“We went and took part in the 10k in Paris in the Marathon Pour Tous, which was not the full distance, and it started late at night,” she said in a conversation with her friend and fellow Marathon Pour Tous participant Tony Bignell.

“We both said we were just going to jog around because we were working all through the day and the next day. We got caught up in the atmosphere and started way too fast, but it was still great.”

Daughter Isla catches the marathon bug

Radcliffe isn’t the only runner in her family taking on the marathon distance this year, with daughter Isla making her debut in London in April.

17-year-old Isla - who was a guest on the first episode of Paula's Marathon Run Club podcast - will be running for Children With Cancer UK, having herself recovered from a rare form of cancer that she was diagnosed with at age 13.

"Isla wants to make a difference – she just came out and told me she is doing it. It will be wonderful," Radcliffe, who will be commentating on the London Marathon for the BBC, said in an interview with the Mail about her daughter’s decision to race.

One thing is for sure: the young Radcliffe will be able to rely on some of the best advice in the business, with her decorated mother also putting in the miles as she trains for the return to a race distance that made her into a legend.