Healing Hans gets Paula up and running
A CELEBRITY doctor known as ‘Healing Hans’ has played a key role in getting Paula Radcliffe to the start line for Sunday’s London Marathon. ‘I was close to pulling out,’ she admitted. ‘There was definitely a point I was worried because I thought, “God, if I can’t run for 45 minutes, I can’t get round a marathon”.’ Instead Radcliffe turned to renowned German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, who has worked with the likes of Ronaldo, Michael Owen and Usain Bolt. Despite a very public split with Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola last week, Muller-Wohlfahrt joined an American foot surgeon, orthotics specialists in Belgium and physiotherapists at British Athletics to make sure Radcliffe will reach the start line for her final competitive marathon on Sunday. The 750,000 who are expected to pack the 26.2-mile course from London’s Blackheath to Pall Mall will not witness a Radcliffe of 2003 vintage. Her world record time of 2:15:25 still stands 12 years later but the 41-year-old will be nowhere near that mark this time, setting off with the good club runners rather than the elite women. Finishing the race will be a victory of sorts for her after fearing a degenerative injury to her foot would rule her out. ‘I was in Kenya and training was going well,’ she said, ‘but because the trails are pretty rocky out there I tweaked my achilles. I went down to Font Romeu (her training camp in Italy) and it snowed there so I did a couple of runs on the treadmill. Maybe because it was harder on the treadmill my achilles started to get really sore.’ The turning point came four weeks ago while on a run in the park near her home in Monaco with daughter Isla, eight. ‘She was on her bike and it’s quite hilly so I was more impressed that she kept up. From that day, I’ve been able to gradually increase it and get back, with ice buckets after every run, and I’m just really grateful to everyone who has helped me. ‘If I was being competitive I would have pulled out five weeks ago. But I’ve just been there so many times and this time I just thought it doesn’t matter if I run it in three hours or 2:45. ‘I’m almost there and I’m hoping my body will remember a little bit once I get running.’