Mo Farah to test his ageing limbs at London Marathon

Having retired from the track, Mo Farah says that he does not know how long he can go on after announcing that he will test his battle-scarred body in the TCS London Marathon on October 2.

The four-time Olympic champion at 5,000m and 10,000m, who will warm-up for the race in The Big Half on September 4, said that he has been watching Andy Murray’s fight against his physical problems with interest, but is unsure if he can remain competitive among the global elite.

“When I line up I always want to do my best, no matter what kind of race it is,” he said. “Sometimes your body doesn’t allow you to. I am getting on a bit. Do I still have the hunger, am I willing to put in the work and the miles? Yes. I’ve been putting in consistent mileage and I still have that fight in me. Until you lose it I don’t think I should think about retiring, but being realistic, can your body do this? I’ve watched Andy Murray and the guy still has that fight in him but his body doesn’t allow him to. [It’s] seeing that and making the right shout. I’m not planning four or five races. I’m planning two races at the minute and then go back and see where I am. Can my body compete with these guys at this level? That’s the question which will come afterwards.”

Farah called time on his track career after a shock defeat by the part-time runner Ellis Cross in the London Vitality 10,000 road race in May. The 39-year-old also admitted that he has been plagued by injury problems, including a stress fracture in his foot and a torn quad muscle, but he admitted that he was not a “spring chicken” and “in terms of the track that’s it”.

What he does know is that when the time comes he alone will make the retirement call. “That decision can only come down from me, not my manager, not my wife or my kids,” Farah said. “It has to come down from you. It’s you putting in the work, week in, week out. There will be a time, but I don’t even know myself.”

It remains to be seen how competitive he could be over 26 miles on the road with a clean bill of health. Farah won four Olympic gold medals and six world titles during a seven-year reign as the undisputed king of long-distance track running, and then moved up to the marathon in 2018. He was third in London that year and then won the Chicago Marathon in a British record, with his most recent marathon coming in London in 2019.

Farah, who first ran the London Marathon in 2014, also knows that it has become one of the most competitive events in world sport, with the six fastest times in history set in the past four years. They are topped by Eliud Kipchoge’s 2hr 1min 39sec clocked in Berlin in 2018. The Kenyan, the fastest man in the world this year again, is expected to run in Berlin again this year. Farah’s best is 2:05.11.

“I am still doing sessions normal people can’t do,” Farah said. “That’s one of the reasons you want to come back. You still feel like you’ve got it.”

He will be paid well for his appearance in London but the lure of running in the capital ten years on from the highlight of his career is also strong. “There’s a lot of people out there who tuned in in 2012, and over the years have been massive fans of me, and have supported me throughout my career,” Farah said. “It’s only right to turn up there and see what I can do. The field is strong. I’m just trying to give myself the best chance, prepare well and get ready.

 “I was never planning to retire after the Vitality 10,000. Leading up to it I put in some good miles and took myself out to Ethiopia, and I might have worked a bit too hard. In terms of performance, it wasn’t the best. It was a poor race. I’m not taking any credit away from the guy who won but it wasn’t a great performance. At that time I went back and carried on training, taking my time to build the mileage. Being a distance runner if there’s no consistent mileage it’s hard to perform at your best. That’s what I’ve been doing, trying to build and build.”