Pavey sets herself marathon challenge

Veteran athlete Jo Pavey is to run the London Marathon on April 23 as she targets a place in the GB team at this summer’s World Championships in London.

Pavey, 43, became Britain’s first female track athlete to compete at five Olympic Games last year when she contested the 10,000m in Rio and she now plans to step up in distance to run the marathon for the first time since 2011.

“I’m always looking for a new challenge,” said Pavey. “Last year was all about making a fifth Olympics and after I had done that I started to think about my next challenge.

“I have been thinking about doing a marathon again for the past few years and for a British athlete the London Marathon – with the amazing home crowds and the iconic course – is the pinnacle. I wanted to be sure I was injury-free and could crack on with my training before committing.

“It’s also an event where I think I have the possibility of running a personal best and that is also a massive target of mine.”

Qualifying for a place at the worlds in August will require her to run inside 2:36:00 and be one of the top two British finishers at the marathon, which acts as British Athletics’ trial race.

The competition for places on the GB men’s team for the World Championships has also intensified with the addition of another Olympian to the elite men’s field.

Scots athlete Tsegai Tewelde was the second Briton home behind Callum Hawkins at last year’s London Marathon and subsequently gained a place in the GB team for Rio.

However, Tewelde was forced to drop out of the Olympics and is now keen to make amends by winning a place for London 2017. With Hawkins’ name already on the team sheet for the worlds, Tewelde must finish as one of the top two British men.