Radcliffe fails in Olympic bid

Paula Radcliffe's bid for Olympic glory again has ended without a medal despite a brave attempt.

The 34-year-old had overcome a stress fracture to her leg to compete in the event but could only manage 23rd place in a time of 2 hours 32.38 minutes - although she did at least finish the race, unlike in Athens four years ago.

It did look as though she may fail to finish when she briefly pulled up 20 minutes from the end of the course, but she carried on and revealed afterwards her determination to finish the race.

She said: "I would have walked because it was something that was actually ok walking. I haven't made the injury worse."

Mara Yamuchi was the pick of the Brits, finishing sixth after a gallant effort in which she was in medal contention until the final sprinting pack broke clear, while Liz Yelling came home 26th despite an early fall which caused a cracked rib.

Ireland's Pauline Curley was 63rd in a time of 2:47:16.

Britain failed to add to their medal haul as competition in the pool came to a close, with the women's 4x100metres medley team the closest to another medal.

The quartet of Gemma Spofforth, Kate Haywood, Jemma Lowe and Francesca Halsall finished fourth in a European record time of 3 minutes 37.50 seconds, but were still more than a second behind third-placed China.

The men's 4x100m medley team finished sixth in their final, while David Davies was also sixth in the 1,500m final.

Britain's cyclists continued to dominate at the Laoshan Velodrome.

Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton are on course to win more gold medals after qualifying as the quickest in their events.

Hoy, 32, and fellow team sprint gold-medallist Jason Kenny both set new Olympic records in the flying 200 metres which is used to seed competitors in the individual sprints.

Victoria Pendleton confirmed her status as favourite for the women's sprint with an Olympic record qualifying time which was just outside the world record.

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