Marathon quartet announced

Steinle was the fastest Briton in the 2002 London Marathon

Britain's marathon competitors at this summer's IAAF World Athletics Championships have been selected.

Jon Brown, Matt O'Dowd and Mark Steinle will run in the men's event in Paris on Saturday, 30 August. Jo Lodge will compete in the women's race the following day.

Lodge earned her selection by clocking 2hrs 34:17secs in the Berlin Marathon in September 2002.

She and O'Dowd will be running in their first major senior championship.

Dowd ran 2:12:20 in his debut marathon in New York in November 2002, inside the UK Athletics selection guideline of 2:14.

Brown has been unable to complete a marathon since his fourth place in the 2000 Olympics because of injury and illness problems.

Criticism

But he has been selected on the basis of his previous record at major championships.

Steinle is now recovering from the iron defieciency problems which caused his withdrawal from this year's London Marathon.

He was well inside the UKA guideline for selection with his 2:09:17 in London in 2002.

Radcliffe is running the 10,000m in Paris

All four athletes are selected subject to proving their fitness over a shorter distance closer to the World Championships.

The men's team have much to prove after coming under a barrage of criticism for their lack of success this year.

Several leading names in British athletics have voiced their fears that male distance runners are not doing approaching their preparations with the same intensity and rigour as Paula Radcliffe.

Radcliffe was the first Briton, male or female, to cross the finish line in London.

The marathon at the World Championships may also have an impact on selection for the marathon at the 2004 Olympics.

The International Association of Athletics Federations will consider any athlete who finishes in the top 20 in Paris as having achieved its 'A' standard for Athens.