Mo Farah to make London Marathon bow

LONDON (AFP) –

Britain’s Mohammed Farah celebrates winning the men’s 5000m final of the 2012 European Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki on June 27, 2012. The double Olympic champion will run half of this year’s London Marathon before making his debut over the full distance on the streets of the British capital in 2014.

Double Olympic champion Mo Farah will run half of this year’s London Marathon before making his debut over the full distance on the streets of the British capital in 2014.

Farah will start on April 21 and it is planned he will run to halfway, in an elite men’s field also featuring Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich, marathon world record holder Patrick Makau, and world champion Abel Kirui.

British long distance star Farah, who won both 5,000 metres and 10,000m gold at last year’s London Olympics, has previously spoken of his desire to move up to the marathon, with coach Alberto Salazar suggesting he could run over the distance at the Rio Games in 2016.

Farah, competing over 3,000m at the British Athletics Grand Prix indoor event in Birmingham, central England on Saturday before switching to a half-marathon in New Orleans next weekend, said: “As a young boy growing up in London it has always been my ambition to run the London Marathon.

“I won the Mini Marathon when I was younger and have watched the race every year for as long as I can remember.

“I will make my marathon debut in the 2014 London Marathon but will run the 2013 race to halfway as part of my preparation for 2014. It will allow me to understand the course and the systems I will need when I run the full distance.

“To run as the double Olympic champion makes it even more special. Dave Bedford (former race director) and the London Marathon have always been there for me and it will be my pleasure to run my first marathon in London.”

Farah made his half-marathon debut in 2011 when he won in New York in 60 minutes 23 seconds, a British record.