BIRMINGHAM, England — Mo Farah’s return to the track ended in disappointment after he fell well short of the Olympic qualifying standard in the European 10,000m Cup And British Olympic Trials at Birmingham University in Birmingham on Saturday (5).
Farah Faded To Eighth In Birmingham
The four-time Olympic champion, who was hoping to represent Great Britain at the Tokyo Games, had not competed in the 10,000m since winning the event in 2017 and was seeking to hit the qualifying mark this weekend.
However, the 38-year-old could only manage an eighth-place finish overall in a time of 27 minutes, and 50.64 seconds, which was short of the required time of 27:28.00.
Farah, who finished behind fellow Briton Marc Scott – who was seventh overall with 27:49.94 – has until June 27 to achieve the Olympic standard.
However, he was understandably disappointed about his performance, which fell well short of his personal best of 26:46.57, and there are reports that the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic champion might not continue his track comeback and could very well hang up his spikes again.
Morhad Amdouni of France was the winner of the event with a time of 27:23.39, as the top six finishers all posted personal best times under the lights in Birmingham. Bashir Abdi of Belgium was second in 27:24.41, with Carlos Mayo of Spain taking third place in 27:25.00.
McColgan Wins, Judd Hits Olympic Standard
Meanwhile, the women’s elite race was captured by Great Britain’s Eilish McColgan, who used to a strong finish to overtake Israel’s Selamawit Teferi in the closing meters to break the tape at 31:19.21.
Teferi grabbed second place with a personal best time of 31:19.50, while Jess Judd was full of emotion after she dipped inside the Olympic standard of 31:25 with her third-place finishing performances of 31:20.84.
Judd, who missed out on competing at Rio 2016 is set to compete at the Olympics for the first time.
Verity Ockenden broke 32 minutes to finish fourth in 31:43.70 but was outside the Olympic qualifying time.
