Pavey finds Olympic form in New York

Jo Pavey finished ninth in New York (GETTY IMAGES)

Jo Pavey strengthened her claim to a spot on the British team for the Olympic women's marathon in London next year with a top-10 finish in New York yesterday.

The 38-year-old Devon athlete ran an evenly-paced race to take ninth place in 2hr 28min 42sec, finishing third European in a field dominated by East Africans. Her time was 18sec down on her debut run in April but, given the undulatingNew York course, an improvement on her 19th place in London.

Mary Keitany, the Kenyan who was a class apart in London, led by 2min 07sec at halfway but had to settle for third place in 2: 23:38. Firehiwot Dado won by four seconds from fellow Ethiopian Buzunesh Deba in 2:23:15.