1997–2000
1997 saw Radcliffe split Wami and Tulu, and win the silver medal at the 1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Radcliffe became the first woman to defend the Fifth Avenue Mile title. In the 1997 World Championships, Radcliffe finished in 4th place over the 5,000 metres. Wami again outsprinted Radcliffe in her final race of 1997, in the Brussels cross country event. Radcliffe had dropped out of Durham's cross country race with flu at the start of 1998, but bounced back to finish third in Dublin. At the 1998 edition of the World Cross Country, Radcliffe again won the silver medal. Radcliffe set a new world best for 5 miles (8.0 km) on the road around Balmoral Castle. At the European Cup Radcliffe, captaining the team, won the 5,000 metres and finished second in the 1500 metres. Radcliffe set the pace in the 10,000 metres at the European Championships, but finished fifth. Radcliffe, who was suffering from a virus, took some time off, before returning to the cross country discipline, where she won her first senior title by taking the European Long course race. 1998 finished with a fourth-place finish in Brussels.
Radcliffe started 1999 by finishing fourth in Durham. At the World Cross Country championships, Radcliffe finished with the bronze medal. Radcliffe then ran the seventh fastest 10,000 metres ever at the European 10,000 metres challenge. At the London Grand Prix, Radcliffe took two seconds off her own British record in the 5,000 metres. Radcliffe took the silver at the World Championships behind finishing behind Wami in the 10,000 metres. Radcliffe and Loruope found themselves at the front and tried to get rid of Wami but failed as the Ethiopian took the title. At the Berlin Golden league meeting, Radcliffe finished eighth in the 5,000 metres. Radcliffe then ran the second fastest half marathon by a British woman, finishing third on her debut at the distance at the Great North Run, despite getting into a tangle with a spectator.
Starting 2000, Radcliffe won the Stormont Cross Country race for a third time. Radcliffe then finished fourth in Durham. Radcliffe then sustained a knee injury. For the European Cup, Radcliffe joined a host of other British athletes by pulled out injured. However, Radcliffe soon returned to the track for the first time since March after a virus, a knee operation and a calf muscle tear had kept her out; to race over 1,500 metres in Barcelona. In her first race since the World Cross Country, Radcliffe finished 11th. At the London Grand Prix, Radcliffe finished second, one second outside of her British record, in only her second track race of the season. At the Weltklasse Zürich IAAF Golden League meeting Radcliffe competed in the 3,000 metres and finished in fourth place. At the UK trials won the 5,000 metres title. The British Grand Prix saw Radcliffe race over 3000 metres, where once again she finished third. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Radcliffe finished sixth in her 10,000 metres heat to qualify for the final. In the final Radcliffe set a new British record, but crossed the line in fourth and was highly disappointed to miss out on a medal. Radcliffe returned to action by winning the BUPA Ireland five-mile race. At the Great North Run, Radcliffe ran a new European record for the half marathon, as she won the race in a time of 67 minutes and 7 seconds. Radcliffe was then selected for the 2000 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Mexico. Radcliffe won her first World title, despite suffering a panic attack when her nose tape, designed to help her breathe, fell off halfway round. The good run of form came to an end, when she turned her attention to the Cross Country events and finished third in Brussels. Radcliffe confirmed that her last race of the year would be the Great North Cross Country. There Radcliffe defeated Tulu by seventy-five seconds, in eight inches of snow.
She won back-to-back titles in the 2000 and 2001 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, winning a third title in 2003.
On 24 March, Radcliffe won the Ostend, Belgium-held World Cross Country Championships 2001 title in a time of 27:49.
Held in March in Dublin, Radcliffe defended her title in the Women's Long Race when she won the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships title for a second year. She won in 26:46.
