• Pavey wins 10,000m at European Athletics Championships • Mother of two holds off athlete 16 years her junior • ‘I can’t believe it. I just thought: give it all you’ve got’

As Jo Pavey kicked for a final time, away from a French athlete 16 years her junior and towards the sweet jaws of history, the crowd at Zurich’s famous Letzigrund Stadium began to stand, applaud, acknowledge. They have seen many brilliant performances at the Weltklasse meetings down the years but few, surely, have been as spirit-lifting as watching Jo Pavey, a 40-year-old mother of two from Exeter, become the oldest woman to be crowned a European champion.

Pavey, a four-time Olympian, has become used to valiant near-misses or wearing less expensive metals round her neck. Now, for the first time at a major championships, she has a taste of gold. But she had to plunge into the depths of her resolve to fend off Clémence Calvin after kicking for home before the bell.

Such was the thou-shalt-not-pass determination as Pavey clenched her teeth round the last lap that it was a minor wonder she was able to smile so quickly afterwards. But then one saw her cuddling her daughter, Emily, born 11 months ago, and her four-year-old son Jacob – the steely grit now replaced with a silky tenderness – and it all made sense.

“I can’t believe it,” said Pavey. “I tried to do a controlled last lap because I didn’t want to blow up on the home straight. I didn’t know how close the other girls were, so I thought, ‘Just give it all you’ve got and you can’t regret anything.’”

Pavey’s back-story loses nothing in its retelling: she was still breastfeeding in April, has not attended any training camps and was forced to do her speed work on a track in Yeovil, an hour’s drive away, because her local one is being resurfaced. Only 11 days ago she was fighting it out with some of the finest Kenyan athletes to take bronze in the 5,000m at the Commonwealth Games.

She believes that motherhood has given her perspective, rather than provided any physical advantages but it has certainly had an effect. “People say, ‘Does having a baby make you stronger?’ but I think the disadvantages outweigh it,” said Pavey. “I got really unfit when I was pregnant and had to come back.

“But I feel so happy in my personal life. Before my first child it concerned me that I hadn’t had a child. Now I’m fortunate to have two children, my running can just be what it is now.”

In the early stages Pavey was up with the pace, mindful of keeping out of danger. But with no one pushing on, she was content to sit until three laps to go when an eruption of speed turned a pack of 15 into five. But she was always in control, tracking the leaders before striking to win in 32min 22.39sec, more than a second clear of Calvin.

“I’m definitely still enjoying it,” said Pavey, who turns 41 next month. “And I’m fortunate that my running gives us more time together as a family rather than less.”

In the first round of the men’s 100m James Dasaolu suggested that he is fit and means business by winning his heat in 10.22sec despite easing down after 40m. But Dasaolu faces stern competition from two Frenchmen – the reigning champion Christophe Lemaître, who won his heat in 10.16, and the favourite Jimmy Vicaut, who coasted through in 10.06 and claimed afterwards that he was in shape to run sub 9.9sec.

Dwain Chambers, who first ran in Zurich in 1997 as a 19-year-old when he defeated Carl Lewis, hopes also to be in the reckoning after winning his heat. “I’m not one to dwell too much on how fast a track is but you do really notice the difference,”he said.

“And the rivalry that’s always been secretly between us and the French has sparked an enthusiasm to go out and compete really well.”

Another British victor, this time in the opening skirmishes of the women’s 400m, was the reigning world champion, Christine Ohuruogu, who ran a season’s-best 51.40sec. Not that Ohuruogu is getting carried away. “There’s nothing really to be pleased about,” she said. “It’s a first-round race. The semi-finals are the one I’m worried about, not this.”

But there were a few bum notes for British athletes on the opening day. Laura Muir, who was expected to be in the medal mix in the women’s 1500m, admitted she was “below par” after failing to make the final. Andrew Osagie and Michael Rimmer also failed to get out of their 800m heats after surprisingly underwhelming performances. “This year has been the worst year I’ve ever had,” Osagie said. “On the track and off the track it’s been horrible.

“This is just another string to my awful season of a bow.”