Radcliffe Surprised Haile Loser

Haile Gebrselassie beat Paula Radcliffe in Sunday's head-to-head half marathon in Vienna.

The Briton had targeted a time below 70 minutes in the "Emperor versus the Queen" race.

However, she ended with a time of 1 hour 12 min 03sec, 11 minutes 11 seconds behind the Ethiopian.

"I am at a loss to explain why it was quite so bad. I still would have expected and hoped for a time in the 69s," she told BBC Radio 5 live.

Gebrselassie, who has not qualified for the men's marathon in London, finished in 1:00.52sec.

Radcliffe had a head start of seven minutes 52 seconds in the 13.1 mile race, which is the difference between their respective personal bests.

Radcliffe, who viewed the race as an important part of her preparation ahead of the Olympic marathon on 5 August, set a good early tempo and passed the 5km point in 16:13.

After surprisingly running past his pacemaker, Kenyan Philemon Rono, Gebrselassie upped his pace and passed the 5km mark in 14:12.

Having reduced the gap to only 3:42 at the 9km mark, the Ethiopian was well on target to pass Radcliffe with ease.

He did so at 15.3km, waving an encouraging arm to her as he ran past. But the Briton's pace had slowed to a long way behind her personal best.

She eventually finished well behind the two-time Olympic 10,000 metre champion, and appeared to shed tears of frustration after posting her slowest ever time for the half marathon.

The women's marathon world-record holder has not been in the best of health in the last fortnight, tweeting on Friday that she was relieved to have made it to Vienna after a bout of bronchitis and pleurisy.

She said the illness had been a factor in her slow time, but feels she should still have run far quicker.

"I know that racing on antibiotics isn't the best idea, and that is why I did not expect fireworks coming in," she added.

"The format of the race meant that I could not stop, even though I felt really bad, so I tried to just keep going. I tried to zone out and just get through it. That it was I did, and I feel a bit shaky now.

"The thing that worries me is that I did not feel myself out there while running. The danger is that it affects my confidence [for the London Olympics]."

However, the 38-year-old insists that she is entirely focused on the Games, and will use the races between now and August to rebuild her morale.

"I am not giving up on it by any means," she said.

"I think I need to get out and race and feel like myself. The 10kms that I race, and if I do race a half marathon, are a build up for the [Olympic marathon].

"They are not races for running as fast as I can in their own right. But I still want to go out and feel strong and feel good."

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Radcliffe Backs London GB Team

Long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe insists Great Britain should get behind their Olympic athletes, even if they were born abroad.

Selectors have been criticised for choosing athletes who have switched nationalities in order to represent Britain at this summer's Olympics.

US-born hurdler Tiffany Porter is among those critics call 'Plastic Brits'.

But Radcliffe said: "They are going out there giving their absolute best to represent Britain, so get behind them."

Porter, whose mother is from England, captained the Great Britain team at last month's World Indoor Championships, where Cuban-born Yamile Aldama won a surprise gold for Britain in the triple jump.

"I think you need to look at each individual case," said Radcliffe. "I don't think it's by any means a case of Britain going round and buying athletes in, as has been the case in other countries.

"I think these are people who actually do feel an affinity with Britain, they want that opportunity to compete in the British kit with the Union Jack on their vest."

Meanwhile, Radcliffe still believes she can claim gold for Britain this summer despite her struggle for fitness.

The 38-year-old booked her place in the marathon after achieving the qualifying time with a third-placed finish in September's Berlin Marathon, her first full-distance event since November 2009 after she took a 19-month break to have her second child.

The marathon world record holder is desperate to arrive fully fit at an Olympic Games after she failed to finish the race in Athens in 2004, while four years later in Beijing she ended down in 23rd place.

"Most importantly I think is to be able to get to that start line 100% healthy and able to give it my best shot on the day," she said.

"That's what I feel I haven't been able to do in the last two [Olympics] and I really just want that chance.

"I hope that's good enough to win a medal, win the race - I think it can be on the right day."

She made her comeback in May last year at the London 10,000m race, where she came third, but she has had a series of health problems which have included a torn disc in her back, an overactive thyroid gland and tendinitis.

Since securing Olympic selection, she has raced just once in a 10km road race in December and her first race of 2012 will be a half marathon in Vienna next week.