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Mo Farah Returns to Track, Plans to Defend 10,000m Gold in Tokyo Olympics
November 29, 2019
Mo Farah has abandoned his marathon plans and will instead return to track and field to defend his gold medal in the 10,000 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
The 36-year-old announced the news on Friday:
Per BBC Sport, Farah retired from track and field in 2017 to focus on the marathon. While he found some success in his new career―he broke the British record in the 2018 London marathon and set a new European record in the 2018 Chicago marathon, which he also won―the 2019 season did not go to plan.
An eighth-placed finish at the 2019 Chicago marathon in October fell well short of expectations, and he finished more than three minutes, one second behind winner Eliud Kipchoge in this year's London marathon.
His relationship with disgraced trainer Alberto Salazar often dominated headlines, especially after the four-time Olympic gold medal winner accused the press of having a racist agenda against him in October, per the Guardian's Sean Ingle.
Per Ben Bloom of the Telegraph, UK Athletics announced on Thursday an independent review will look into the 2015 decision to allow Farah to keep working with Salazar, who has since been banned from the sport over doping offences.
Farah has yet to qualify for the 2020 Olympics but is expected to do so relatively easy. He won the 5,000 and 10,000 meters gold medals in both the 2012 games in London and 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro and is a six-time world champion.