Hugh Brasher hopes Sunday’s London Marathon will not be the last for Mo Farah
(Picture: PA Wire)London Marathon bosses are hopeful Sunday’s race will not act as a career swansong for Mo Farah and that they can persuade him to run on into 2023.
Farah performed a U-turn on his return to the track to once more concentrate on road running having last competed in a full marathon back in 2019.
And London Marathon event director Hugh Brasher said “the door will always be open to Mo” to compete in the annual event, which reverts back to its traditional April date on the calendar from next year.
Brasher said he hoped Farah, who turns 40 before next year’s race, would be inspired by Eliud Kipchoge’s world record in Berlin last week at the age of 37.
“Eliud is proving aged 37 he’s running a PB that the age barrier that we used to think existed does not necessarily now exist,” said Brasher. “Mo is Britain’s greatest endurance athlete.
“One bad performance or a couple of performances doesn’t mean people should write somebody off. He is an absolutely superb athlete. We are looking forward to having him here.
“I hope he runs fantastically well. And we should allow athletes time to do what they want to do. You never can tell.
“We will always keep talking to him. When Mo decides his last marathon is his last marathon we would absolutely love it to be London because he should be celebrated for what he’s done.”
This year’s race is missing four-time winner Kipchoge after he opted instead to compete on the quicker course of Berlin to break his own world best.
But the Kenyan will act as the ambassador for the kids’ mini-marathon on Saturday and officials are hopeful of luring him back to the senior race next year.
Brasher added: “He’s the superstar and he wanted to break the world record. That’s why he ran Berlin. We would be absolutely delighted to have him back in 2023.
“I think Eliud is pretty clear that when he’s focusing on catching a rabbit, he only focuses on one rabbit and he’s not looking for another.”
