Mo Farah misses Bekele showdown

Mo Farah has pulled out of his planned 10,000metre showdown with world record holder Kenenisa Bekele in the United States later today.

Farah has instead opted to compete in the 5,000m at the same Diamond League event in Eugene tomorrow.

The 10,000m had been seen as the Londoner’s first big track test this season against Bekele, with reports that he was looking to set a pace that would have broken his current British record for the distance.

But overnight Farah switched to the shorter event, which also boasts a world-class field including training partner Galen Rupp, who was second to Farah in the Olympic 10,000m, and Ethiopia’s Ibrahim Jeilan, who pipped him to World Championship gold in 2011.

Suggestions that the 30-year-old was avoiding Bekele and his younger brother Tariku were dismissed by Farah’s camp. Having competed in London on Monday when he won the Bupa 10k, the 5,000m merely gives him 24 hours more recovery time back in the United States.

A spokesman for Farah said: “Looking at his schedule, it just fits better. There’s nothing more to it than that.”