Farah expected to attack long-standing European two miles best in Birmingham | 08.01.2012
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| Mo Farah has confirmed his participation at the 2012 Aviva Grand Prix meeting in Birmingham on 18 February. |
The British runner's record-breaking effort at the 2011 Aviva Grand Prix meeting set up a stellar year for the 2010 European Athletics Championships 5000m and 10,000m gold medallist, with Farah wining gold and silver medals over those respective distances at last summer's World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Farah, now 28, is likely to have a serious attempt on the European two miles indoor best of 8:13.2 by Belgium's Emiel Puttemans, which has stood back from 1973.
Although it is not a championship distance, the two miles is a popular event at the Aviva Grand Prix, with three world records set in the last dozen years.
For the record, the current world best of 8:04.35 was set by Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele in Birmingham four years ago while the British record of 8:17.06 has belonged to John Mayock since 2002.
It will be the third race of the winter for Farah, who will commence his 2012 season with an outing over 1500m at the Aviva International Match in Glasgow, a European Athletics Indoor Permit meeting, on 28 January and then race cross the Atlantic to race in Boston on 4 February.
“The field at Birmingham will be world class, it always is, and it’s exactly what I need in an Olympic year. I don’t want to go to a meet and know that it will be an easy run,” commented Farah.
“Right now I want to be racing against the best and being pushed to run faster – that allows me to work on my race strategy, to keep my head right during the race and to hopefully finish up with a positive result.
“Birmingham’s a pretty special place to me, I’ve competed there so many times and I’ve had some great races there.
“My family are always around when I’m competing in the UK and that’s something I really love. There are so many familiar faces in Birmingham and it’s important for me to keep up those connections now that I’m based in the US.”
“I love competing at the Aviva Grand Prix and the crowd’s support really gets me going. I always seem to perform well at the meet and of course, I’ll be hoping for a good run in February to start my year off on the right note,” he said.
Farah made his debut at the meeting in 2003 when he was still just 19-year-old; since then he has set British records over 3000m and 5000m and recorded personal best over one and two miles at the meet, one of the world’s premier indoor athletics events.
