Paula Radcliffe’s marathon record time will no longer be classed as a world record for the distance after the sport’s governing body the IAAF changed the criteria.

The changes, made at the recent World Championships in South Korea, specify that only times achieved in all-women competitions will be acknowledged for world record purposes with performances in mixed conditions now being referred to only as “world best”.

This means that Radcliffe’s 2003 mark of two hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds in the London Marathon is no longer the world record, as she ran it in a mixed-race after following male pacemakers.

The 37-year-old’s London time of 2:17:42 from 2005 is now classed as the world record.

The World Marathon Majors (WMM) and the Association of International Marathons (AIMS) have issued a statement describing the changes as “unfair”.

“The current situation where the fastest time is not now recognised as a record is confusing and unfair,” they said.

AIMS represents more than 300 races worldwide, the vast majority of them road races.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.