It was never going to be easy, but it's just been made particularly hard for Mo Farah as he prepares for his marathon debut in London.
A super-elite field has been announced this week with the world's best marathon runners all queuing up to take on the British Olympic star over the distance on April 13.
Farah is aiming to become the first British man to win the race since Eamonn Martin 21 years ago and, for all that he has already achieved in his illustrious career, this represents somewhat of a career crossroads.
It will not be until after the marathon that Farah and his camp begin to make a firm decision on his targets and goals for the remainder of the year, and the race could well dictate the direction of his career from this point onwards.
As has been admitted by the double Olympic champion, so far there are no definite plans regarding competing on the track at either the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow or the European Championships in Zurich later this year. A great deal is going to be on the line. His ambition of translating his dominance over 5,000 and 10,000m to the significantly longer distance of 26.2 miles is admirable, but is it attainable against such seasoned specialists?
To invest so much time and training in adapting to a very different event is always going to be a big risk, but under the tutelage of three-time New York Marathon champion Alberto Salazar he is going about his work in the right way.
Farah completed half last year’s London Marathon as a training run but taking on such a high-quality field this time around will be an entirely different proposition. He gained valuable experience last April, but this time the intense pressure and the expectation will engulf him.
Lofty ambitions always come naturally to the great athletes, and Farah is probably the greatest Britain has ever produced. But to move serenely to tackling the marathon distance against the world's best is a challenge that is hard to overstate.
No comments:
Post a Comment