The five-time Olympian is excited by the prospects of Team GB’s distance runners on the eve of the Paris Games
Jo Pavey has praised Eilish McColgan and Megan Keith, who will both be representing Team GB over 10,000m at the Paris Olympics on August 9.
McColgan, the British record-holder over the distance and 2022 Commonwealth Games champion, has had a disrupted 2024 season due to injury but she is now preparing for her fourth Olympics, having returned from knee surgery last month.
Keith comes into the Games on a high after securing her spot on the team in May with a time 31:03.02, a mark she bettered by 27 seconds two months previously to place fourth on the UK all-time list.
Pavey’s five Olympic participations are unmatched by any other British runner and track event athlete. She won gold in the 10,000m at the 2014 European Championships and became the oldest female European champion in history. She now reckons that Keith is arriving in Paris in the form of her life.
Nadia Battocletti, Megan Keith, Diane van Es (Getty)
“I have really enjoyed seeing how well the athletes are doing,”says Pavey. “Megan is going from strength to strength. She is still only 22 years old, so to run the times she has at such a young age is phenomenal and very exciting.
“It was great to see her win a medal at the European Championships and of course to run so well at cross country too. She is not afraid to front run which is a great quality and she’ll always work so hard.
“She’s earned the chance to run in Paris and she can really show the world how well she can do. She is so lovely and I am excited to see her career take off. She is still young and this will be such a valuable experience for the coming years.”
On McColgan, the 33-year-old from Dundee, Pavey says: “Eilish has shown many times how she is truly world class and her win at the Commonwealth Games really showed how competitive she can be in the closing stages.
“She has had a lot of injuries recently which is always tough to deal with, mentally and physically, so I have been really pleased to see her back running.
“She has shown so much resilience and determination to come back, including doing hours of cross training, and while her preparation wouldn’t have been as she would have liked, with her talent you can never rule her out.”
Eilish McColgan (Mark Shearman)
The field offers huge challenges for the British athletes, with the African runners posing the biggest threat along with Sifan Hassan, who has made the step up to the marathon distance in impressive style having recorded wins in London and Chicago in 2023.
Pavey adds: “The competition is obviously very tough with the strength of the East Africans and Sifan Hassan being so dominant, but anything can happen with tactics and weather conditions.
“A 10,000m on the track is different to other environments. It is so important to have an awareness of your lap times and the pace that’s being run in order to get your best performance and your best result on the day, while at the same time being as competitive as possible.
“It’s going to be a very exciting race to watch. Beatrice Chebet [world 10,000m record-holder and the first women to run the distance under 29 minutes] will obviously be one to watch. But the very fast finishing 2023 World Champion Gudaf Tsegay will be tough to beat. Â
“There’s talk that Sifan Hassan is considering a historic quadruple of events, which would be a very difficult task. She would have already done two 5000m and two 1500m by the time of the 10,000m, but at least she would have not yet run the marathon!
Sifan Hassan (LM Events)
“She will be wanting to put things right in the 10,000m after unfortunately falling so close to the finish line last year at the World Championships.
“Her marathon running has been impressive winning London and Chicago in 2023 and many will wonder how much the marathon volumes will affect her top-end speed.
“I also think we need to keep an eye on the Kenyan pair Lilian Kasait Rengeruk and Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi.”
Looking at the middle and long distances, Pavey is certain that Team GB is spoilt for choice, praising the “wealth of talent” in the likes of Josh Kerr, Laura Muir and Keely Hodgkinson.
“It’s tougher than ever to win but British athletes are doing really well and have every chance,” says Pavey.
Jo Pavey (Gary Mitchell)
Pavey is now an ambassador for Running at 40 Plus, a community of runners over 40 who celebrate their love for running, with membership now swelling to more than 25,000 people worldwide.
She will be running the Vitality London 10,000 on September 22 as part of that community, running in the official vest of Running at 40 Plus for the first time.
But even though Pavey says her times of setting personal bests are in the past, she is playing a role in inspiring excellence among future generations.
“My husband Gavin and I enjoy working with athletes,” says Pavey. “We are coaching athletes such as Innes FitzGerald, Jake Smith, Gemma Steel, Jess Martin, Becky Briggs, Atsede Gidey, Charlie Arnell and others, including some up-and-coming juniors.”
Entries for the Vitality London 10,000 are open now.
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