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Farah feels Tokyo delay could help 10,000m title defense

Video Credit: Reuters Studio - Duration: 01:37s - Published
Farah feels Tokyo delay could help 10,000m title defense

Farah feels Tokyo delay could help 10,000m title defense

Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah says the postponement of the Tokyo Games to 2021 could work to his advantage.

The Briton has switched from the road back to the track and is fully focused on retaining his 10,000 meter title.

Adam Reed reports.

Multiple Olympic champion Mo Farah has been looking at the positives that come with a postponed Olympics until 2021, as it gives him extra time to train and defend his 10,000 meter title.

Having experimented with road racing and the marathon since successfully completing a 5,000 and 10,000 meter double at Rio 2016, the Briton announced last November he was switching focus back to the track.

The delaying of Tokyo 2020 gives Farah around 20 months to get himself ready for athletics' longest track discipline.

“I’m coming off the marathon and preparing for Olympics straight away within the first year, so having it postponed it actually helps me a bit more, because I can do more races.

It gives me a year to do more track races and then go to the Olympics.

So in a way I think it works out well for me." Farah, now 37, plans to only defend his 10,000 meter crown in Japan and said every athlete has been dealing with plenty of uncertainty.

Tuesday’s (May 12) cancellation of July’s Anniversary Games in London is the latest change that has left everyone struggling to find any structure to their season.

"Hopefully we're going to have some races and I can start working towards something, because as an athlete you always want to have something to work towards, if it's an Olympics, if it's a World Championship, if it's any event." The six-times world champion over 5,000 and 10,000 meters says he had been using this extra time at home to spend more time with his family and to get training runs through London’s parks.




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