From an all-conquering track start to a champion marathoner, Sir Mo Farah is a runner who seemingly takes everything in his long, loping stride.
Not only is he a double-double-Olympic gold medallist in the 5,000m and 10,000m, he also holds the British record for distances ranging from 1500m to the marathon.
victory at the Chicago Marathon Sir Mo will return to the London Marathon next April How to run twice a day and why you should try it interval sessions to help you bag that PB Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network.
But it’s London that matters most to Mo, who came to Hounslow from Somalia aged eight, and this time round he believes he can win it.
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Should he get the better of Kipchoge and co, it won’t actually be Mo’s first London Marathon victory. He is, in fact, a three-time winner of the mini-London Marathon. Back then, Mo told the London Evening Standard, ‘I thought, “How can anyone possible run [the full marathon]?” It now seems strange that I’m doing those same 26.2 miles.’
Certainly, when Mo struggled in his first London Marathon in 2014, finishing eighth in a time of 2:08:21, there were those who believed him ill-suited to the distance. Some felt that his stride was wrong: too much vertical oscillation (or ‘bounce’). Perhaps the undisputed king of the track wouldn’t triumph in the marathon, after all.
‘It was pretty tough,’ Mo told the BBC after the race. ‘I’m quite disappointed but you try things and if they don’t work, at least you gave it a go. It was really just the pace – I should have gone with the front group. The pacemakers I had were slightly ahead of me, but you learn.’
Learn he did. After winning double Olympic gold at Rio 2016, cementing his position for many as Britain’s best ever distance runner, Mo doubled-down on his marathon training. Enlisting the services of Gary Lough, the husband and former coach of marathon world record-holder Paula Radcliffe, he upped the mileage (about 135 miles a week) and began mastering the distance.
Published: 28 November 2018, breaking Jones’ 33-year British record to finish in 2:06:21. It was a brilliant performance – but there was better to come. In Chicago this October, Mo won has first major, easily out-kicking the competition to finish in 2:05:11 – a new European record.
‘I feel I have made great strides in the past year, finishing third in London in April, and winning my first major marathon in Chicago in October,’ he told the BBC. ‘That and breaking the British and European records has given me the confidence that I can compete against the best marathon runners in the world.’
He’ll have to do just that if he’s to triumph again in April, as it seems almost certain that Eliud Kipchoge will be returning to defend his title. Widely regarded as the world’s greatest ever marathoner, Kipchoge smashed the world record Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network, posting a time of 2:01:39. Is Mo scared of him? ‘I have a lot of respect for Eliud,’ he told the London Evening Standard, ‘but do I fear him? No. And do I think I can beat him? Yes.’
Only time will tell if Mo can get the better of Kipchoge. But if they’re stride for stride coming down The Mall, Mo thinks he’ll have the advantage. ‘Eliud has the world record, but I’d have crowd cheering me down the home straight,’ he told the London Evening Standard. ‘And that’s the big difference.’
