The Citizen (KZN)

King Mo happy to let track go

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Ostrava – British distance running legend Mo Farah (above) said yesterday he had no regrets about calling time on his glittering track career to focus on road racing.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist will race his last 10 000m on the IAAF circuit at the Golden Spike meet today.

Then comes an outing at the London Diamond League over 3 000m, followed by a training camp in southern France to finetune preparatio­ns for August 4 to 13 World Athletics Championsh­ips.

It is no exaggerati­on to say Farah has successful­ly overcome Kenyan and Ethiopian team tactics to dominate the 5 000 and 10 000m.

Since winning silver over 10k at the 2011 world champs in Daegu, the 34-year-old Londoner has enjoyed an unbroken streak of nine global final wins (the 5 000m in 2011, and the double at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and the 2013 and 2015 worlds).

“It’s a little bit sad because obviously track is where I made it, where it changed my life in terms of competing at London Olympic Games and winning the double and continuing from there,” Farah said of his decision to step away from the track.

“It’s been an amazing journey for me but I have to move on now, everything must come to an end at some point.

“I’m a little bit sad, but at the same time I think I have some unfinished business on the road.”

The Somalian-born runner said that a decision to take part in the marathon at Tokyo 2020 Olympics was not the most pressing item on his agenda.

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