{"id":2034,"date":"2014-01-14T16:03:57","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T22:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/?p=2034"},"modified":"2014-01-14T16:03:57","modified_gmt":"2014-01-14T22:03:57","slug":"mo-farah-set-london-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/news\/mo-farah-set-london-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Mo Farah set for London debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mo<\/a><\/p>\n

Great Britain\u2019s double London 2012 Olympic Games and 2013 IAAF World Championships gold medallist Mo Farah will face some of the greatest marathon runners of all time when he makes his full marathon debut at this year\u2019s Virgin Money London Marathon, after the organisers of the IAAF Gold Label Road Race revealed their men\u2019s elite field on Tuesday (14).<\/p>\n

Farah will race over the classic distance for the first time at on Sunday 13 April.<\/p>\n

He will join an elite men\u2019s field that includes Kenya\u2019s marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang, Uganda\u2019s 2012 Olympic Games and 2013 World Championships marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich, Ethiopia\u2019s reigning London Marathon champion Tsegaye Kebede, and Kenya\u2019s London Marathon course record holder Emmanuel Mutai. Farah ran the first half of the 2013 London Marathon to assess the course and opposition in preparation for his full marathon debut this April.<\/p>\n

He went on to win the World Championships 10,000m title in Moscow before retaining his World 5000m crown.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old then ran his fastest half marathon of 1:00:10 when he finished second in the Great North Run, in Great Britain, last September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gained a lot of valuable experience running part of the course alongside the top guys last year and can\u2019t wait to race over the full distance this April,\u201d said Farah.<\/p>\n

He will have an eye on the long-standing UK record of 2:07:13, which has belonged to Steve Jones since the Welshman won the 1985 Chicago Marathon, a time which was then only one second shy of the world best.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe London Marathon always attracts the world\u2019s best runners to its elite fields and this year will be no different. I am expecting it to be one of my toughest races and a real learning experience,\u201d added Farah.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had another great year on the track in 2013, but the marathon is my main focus for this year.<\/p>\n

It will be even more special if Farah can win in front of his home fans, but he will come up against a set of opponents that includes three men who have run quicker than 2:04 and six who have broken 2:05.<\/p>\n

Quickest of the lot is 2012 London Marathon winner Kipsang, who broke the world record when he won the 2013 Berlin Marathon in 2:03:23.<\/p>\n

Kipsang was fifth in last year\u2019s race when Kebede triumphed for the second time, the Ethiopian coming from behind in a dramatic finish to regain the crown he first won in 2010.<\/p>\n

Kebede ran his personal best of 2:04:38 to win the 2012 Chicago Marathon.<\/p>\n

The second quickest man in the field is Emmanuel Mutai, who set the current course record of 2:04:40 when he won the London Marathon in 2011. The Kenyan looked odds on to win again last year until Kebede overtook him in the final mile.<\/p>\n

Mutai was runner-up again in last October\u2019s Chicago Marathon when he clocked 2:03:52 to become the fourth fastest man of all time.<\/p>\n

His namesake, Geoffrey Mutai, will also be among the favourites after running the fastest marathon ever in 2011. He won the Boston Marathon that year in 2:03:02, although it did not qualify as an official record because of the downhill profile of the Boston course. One of the most consistent men on the marathon circuit, Mutai also won the 2012 Berlin Marathon in 2:04:15, his best time on a legitimate course.<\/p>\n

The Kenyan challenge is completed by Stanley Biwott, the 2012 Paris Marathon champion who was eighth in London last April, and Martin Mathathi, winner of the 2013 Fukuoka Marathon.<\/p>\n

Kiprotich will return to London just eight months after adding the World marathon title to the Olympic crown he claimed in spectacular fashion.<\/p>\n

The Ugandan will be hoping to make the podium this time after finishing sixth here last April.<\/p>\n

Kebede will be joined by two other super-quick Ethiopians who also return to London with realistic hopes of victory.<\/p>\n

Ayele Abshero produced a sensational debut when he won the 2012 Dubai Marathon in 2:04:23 and he reached the London podium last year when he was third, one place ahead of his compatriot, Feyisa Lilesa.<\/p>\n

Farah will be keeping a wary eye on another Ethiopian, Ibrahim Jeilan, who will also make his marathon debut in London.<\/p>\n

The pair have fought out a fierce track rivalry in recent years. Jeilan beat Farah to the 2011 World 10,000m title but the Briton got his revenge in Moscow last summer.<\/p>\n

London Marathon race director Hugh Brasher said: \u201cWe are delighted to announce another superb elite men\u2019s field for the 2014 Virgin Money London Marathon, a line-up containing the usual array of record breakers, global champions and worldwide marathon winners.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, much attention in Britain will focus on the performance of Mo Farah and we are very pleased that he has chosen London to make his marathon debut. But it will be an extremely tough challenge for Mo with the quality of the elite field as high as ever,\u201d added Brasher.<\/p>\n

Organisers for the IAAF<\/p>\n

2014 Virgin Money London Marathon elite men\u2019s field and personal bests:
\nWilson Kipsang (KEN), 2:03:23, World record holder
\nEmmanuel Mutai (KEN), 2:03:52, 2012 London Marathon champion and course record holder
\nGeoffrey Mutai (KEN), 2:04:15, 2013 New York City Marathon champion
\nAyele Abshero (ETH), 2:04:23, 2012 Dubai Marathon champion
\nFeyisa Lilesa (ETH), 2:04:32, 2011 world bronze medallist
\nTsegaye Kebede (ETH), 2:04:38, 2013 London Marathon champion
\nStanley Biwott (KEN), 2:05:12, 2012 Paris Marathon champion
\nMarilson dos Santos (BRA), 2:06:34, two-time New York City Marathon champion
\nMartin Mathathi (KEN), 2:07:16, 2013 Fukuoka Marathon champion
\nStephen Kiprotich (UGA), 2:07:20, World and Olympic marathon champion
\nSamuel Tsegay (ERI), 2:07:28
\nMustapha El Aziz (MAR), 2:07:55
\nAmanuel Mesel (ERI), 2:08:17
\nScott Overall (GBR), 2:10:55
\nRyan Vail (USA), 2:11:45
\nMo Farah (GBR), debut, World and Olympic 5000m & 10,000m champion
\nIbrahim Jeilan (ETH), debut, 2011 World 10,000m champion
\nChris Thompson (GBR), debut
\nBen Livesey (GBR), debut<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great Britain\u2019s double London 2012 Olympic Games and 2013 IAAF World Championships gold medallist Mo Farah will face some of the greatest marathon runners of all time when he makes his full marathon debut at this year\u2019s Virgin Money London Marathon, after the organisers of the IAAF Gold Label Road Race revealed their men\u2019s elite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,30,1,46],"tags":[557,622],"class_list":["post-2034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-london","category-news","category-pre-event","tag-london-marathon","tag-mo-farah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}