Pavey rewrites history aged 40 with Euro gold
EVERGREEN Jo Pavey proved age really is no barrier after becoming the oldest female to win gold at the European Championships by storming home in the 10,000m in Zurich last night.
The 40-year-old took the lead with one lap remaining before holding off the challenge of France’s Clemence Calvin, an athlete 16 years her junior, to post a time of 32 minutes 22.39 seconds and claim her first major title.
Pavey, who won 5,000m bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, admitted to finding the going tough but insisted she wanted to leave nothing on the track after hearing the bell lap.
“I just can’t believe it,” said Pavey. “I was finding it quite a long way, I was thinking is this the right event?
“I’m really thrilled, I tried to do a controlled last lap but when I got to the home straight I thought, just give it all you’ve got so you don’t regret anything.”
Great Britain will have three representatives in today’s 100m semi-finals after Dwain Chambers, James Dasaolu and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey all qualified from their heats.
Chambers breezed through ahead of German Lucas Jakubczyk, while Dasaolu – the second fastest Briton of all time after running 9.91 last year – eased up after 80m such was his dominance as Aikines-Aryeetey also won.
World and former Olympic and Commonwealth champion Christine Ohuruogu, meanwhile, shrugged off any concerns about fitness to post a season’s best 51.40 to qualify for the women’s 400m semi-finals in style.