Pavey eyes indoor glory

By Mike Burnett

Pavey has enjoyed good indoor form this season

British athlete Jo Pavey has her sights set on 3,000m success at the World Indoor Championships this week.

The 30-year-old broke the British record last month and is now hoping to get on the podium in Budapest.

"I'm really enjoying running indoors," she told BBC Sport. "There's a good chance of doing well and it's really impressed me."

"The competition in Budapest will be a high standard, but I'll give it my best. It'd be lovely to get a medal."

Pavey has been enjoying the form of her life recently.

And in the first indoor race of her career at the World Indoor Trials last month, she recorded the fastest 3,000m by a British woman for 15 years with a solo front run of eight minutes 43.23 seconds.

It's going to be tough, I've got to watch out for the Ethiopians and Russians Jo Pavey

Less than two weeks later, she clocked 8:34.55 to beat Liz McColgan's 15-year-old British record of 8:34.80 at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham.

It was a gutsy display which saw her lead until the final 300m before being pipped by likely Budapest rival Meseret Defar and fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba.

"I was surprised how well it's going, I don't do indoors normally," said Pavey. "Obviously this is a big year with Athens, but I thought I'd give it a go."

"Going to Birmingham, I knew what the record was, so I memorised the lap times.

"I was determined to get a good time out of it. I knew if I lost the pace, it would be impossible."

Pavey has made a quick transition to indoor running, despite the dramatic differences to competing outdoors.

"It seems such a long way indoors, 3,000m is 15 laps. But, obviously, it's more intense, so it goes quite quickly," she said.

In the short term, Budapest is very important, but I don't want it to detract from my outdoor season Jo Pavey

"The sloping of the track is different. Your body ends up leaning sideways for the whole race."

Along with middle-distance team-mates Kelly Holmes in the 1500m and Jo Fenn in the 800m, Pavey is one of Britain's strongest medal hopes in Budapest.

"It's going to be tough," she said. "I've got to watch out for the Ethiopians and Russians. Berhane Adere and Meseret Defar are the ones to beat at this distance, and the Russians are very strong."

Certainly success at the World Indoors would be a welcome boost before she starts preparing for the outdoor season and the Olympics in Athens.

"In the short term, Budapest is very important, but I don't want it to detract from my outdoor season," she said.

"I'd love to do 3,000m outdoors but as you can't, I have to think about which distance to aim for at Athens - 1500m or 5,000m. I'll decide that when I start my outdoor season."