FARAH’S COACH TO SKIP LONDON FAREWELL

SIR MO FARAH looks almost certain to contest the world Championships in London without his coach and mentor, Alberto Salazar, at his side. while representatives of four-times Olympic champion Farah have declined the opportunity to confirm that the American will not be travelling to the UK over the last 48 hours, sources have told

Sportsmail that the distance runner does not want the ‘unwanted distraction’ of having Salazar in London while he remains at the centre of a two-year doping investigation by the United States Anti-doping Agency. Publicly, Farah has stood by his coach, who has been the subject of the investigation since a BBC Panorama programme made a series of allegations about the Salazar-run Nike Oregon Project in 2015. But clearly 34-year-old Farah does not want more media scrutiny about the American when he is bidding to successfully defend his world 5,000 metres and 10,000m titles for an unprecedented second time after double triumphs in Moscow and Beijing. Indeed, Farah has chosen to keep away from the media in the build-up to the Championships and has not been among the athletes made available for interview this week by UK Athletics. In the past Salazar has travelled with coaching accreditation provided by US Track and Field, given that he also guides a number of their athletes at the Oregon project. It was the case in Rio last summer for the Olympic Games and for the world Championships in Beijing in 2015. But a statement from USATF to Sportsmail yesterday said: ‘Alberto Salazar is not part of the Team USATF delegation, so we are unaware of his travel plans.’