Britain’s Jo Pavey, who turns 43 in September, ran 10,000 meters Wednesday in 31:34.61 at the European championships in Amsterdam, beating the listed W40 world record of 31:40.97 by Russia’s Alla Zhilyayeva in 2009 but falling short of the unratified 31:31.18 by Kenya’s Edith Masai, 40, in 2007. Still, Jo has a chance to improve on that at an August meet in Brazil. She’s awaiting the picks for the British Olympic team, says a BBC report. So she might join Bernard Lagat, 41, in the geezer contingent if he takes a top 3 spot Saturday in the 5000 at the Olympic Trials. He won his heat Monday in 13:48.36.

The Guardian reported:

Jo Pavey’s hopes of becoming the first British female track athlete to compete in five Olympic Games were given a dramatic kiss of life on Wednesday night as she cut through the field with a late charge to finish fifth in the 10,000 metres European Championships final in the Olympic Stadium here.

The 42-year-old mother always knew it would be a tough ask to defend the title she won two years ago in Zurich after missing several weeks of training with a chest infection. But her goal of trying to secure the final 10,000m place in the British team for Rio also looked to be going up in smoke when she slipped down the field after leading early in the race.

She was hanging on to 10th place with 10 laps remaining but, as others started to flail, Pavey gritted her teeth and began to push, finishing in 31min 34.61sec – a season’s best by nearly two minutes – and inside the Olympic qualifying standard by more than 40 seconds. Crucially that time is also seven seconds quicker than Kate Avery, her main rival for the final British 10,000m place in Rio, has ever run.

Although Avery is only 24 and represents the future, it seems impossible now for British selectors not to pick Pavey when they meet early next week. However, Pavey is not taking anything for granted. “It would have been nice to challenge for a medal, but when the girls took off I found it tough,” she said. “So I just gave it my all. I felt I just gave it everything. It was a massive step forward for me. It was only a few weeks ago I ran in the Birmingham Diamond League and only ran half of it at that pace. I’m making progress each week but I just have to see what the selectors say.

“I don’t want to get involved in the selection because we have so many talented girls and they all deserve to be at the Olympics.”

While the Kenyan-born Turkish athlete Yasemin Can ran away to victory in 31:12.86, Jess Andrews tried to stay with Portugal’s Dulce Felix, who took silver, and Karoline Grovdal of Norway, who took third, but paid the price as she slipped back to seventh. But she was not too disappointed after running a personal best of 31.38.02.

The BBC added:

Jo Pavey failed to defend her European Championship 10,000m title but did achieve the qualifying time for next month’s Olympics in Rio.

The 42-year-old Briton finished in fifth spot in Amsterdam with a season’s best 31 minutes 34 seconds.

Turkey’s Yasemin Can won the race in 31 minutes 12 seconds, while Britain’s Jess Andrews finished in seventh.

Pavey, who needed to finish in 32 minutes 15 seconds to qualify for Rio, has run at every Olympics since 2000.

Pavey finished sixth in the 10,000m at the British trials in May after struggling with a chest infection.

“I’ve been really up against it fitness-wise and each week I’ve been getting a little bit fitter,” she told BBC Sport. “It was only three or four weeks ago that I could run half a race at that pace.”

Pavey will now have to see if she will be selected for Rio.

“I have to wait and see what the selectors say – so many British girls have ran well this season,” she added.

“I really can’t say what will happen. I’m pleased with my progress, I’ve given it everything that I could.”