Farah fails to make Olympic 10k qualifying time
BIRMINGHAM. — Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah’s hopes of ending his track career at the Tokyo Games suffered a huge blow as he fell short of the qualifying mark for the 10 000 metres in Birmingham on Saturday.
The 38-year-old finished eighth, behind fellow Briton Marc Scott, in the European Cup, which doubled as British Olympic trial.
Farah’s time in his first race at this distance for four years was 22 seconds short of the required standard of 27 mins 28 secs to qualify for the Games which are due to start on July 23.
He blamed a foot injury for his poor showing, which had prevented him from training over the last two weeks.
“I am four-time Olympic champion but that doesn’t mean nothing. You’ve got to go out there each race and mix it with the best and give yourself a chance,” said Farah.
“I’ve been carrying a niggle since I came back from training. It is frustrating because I have done a lot of good work in Flagstaff (Arizona). If you would have asked me two weeks ago it would have been a lot different. It’s part of the sport.
“It just suddenly came on. I have had some treatment to it and then coming back, it really flared up. To be honest, this is the first bit I have done of track in the last two weeks. It is not ideal.”
He has another three weeks to make the qualifying time and could also turn his attention to the 5 000 metres in which he won gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
A mixed sequence of results since moving from the track to the marathon persuaded Farah to give it one last blast on the surface he enjoyed his greatest moments on.
However, he may now miss out on that final hurrah even if the Games go ahead despite concerns over coronavirus infection rates in the Japan.
Meanwhile, US sprinter Trayvon Bromell threw down an Olympic challenge on Saturday, clocking a world-leading 9.77sec to win the 100m at a meeting in Florida and become the seventh-fastest all time.
In a wind of 1.5 m/sec, Bromell stormed to victory at the NACAC New Life Invitational, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting in Miramar, Florida.
The world indoor 60m champion in 2016, Bromell faced just three competitors in his heat, getting off to a strong start and powering away to become the ninth man to break 9.80sec over 100m.
It continues an impressive build up toward the Tokyo Olympics for Bromell, the 25-year-old who has battled injuries the past few seasons.
In April he clocked a then world-leading 9.88sec at a meet in Jacksonville, Florida.
Bromell’s form suggests he is firmly in the frame as a potential 100m gold medallist in Tokyo, where world champion Christian Coleman will be absent because of a doping ban.
Bromell exploded onto the athletics scene in 2015, when he ran a personal best time of 9.84sec for the 100m before his 20th birthday — the fastest time ever run by a teenager over the distance — before later claiming a bronze at that year’s World Championships in Beijing.
After winning 60m indoor world gold in 2016 he suffered disappointment at the Rio Olympics, finishing in eighth place in the final won by Usain Bolt.
He later suffered a torn Achilles in the final of the 4x100m relay, the start of an injury nightmare that saw him miss two full years of competition. — AFP.