London - British distance running legend Mo Farah said on
Tuesday he had no regrets about calling time on his glittering track career to
focus on road racing.
The four-time Olympic gold medallist will race his last 10
000m on the IAAF circuit at the Golden Spike meet in the north-eastern Czech
city of Ostrava on Wednesday.
Then comes an outing at the London Diamond League over
3000m, followed by a training camp in southern France to fine-tune preparations
for August 4-13 World Athletics Championships.
It is no exaggeration to say Farah has successfully overcome
Kenyan and Ethiopian team tactics to dominate the 5000 and 10 000m.
Since winning silver over 10k at the 2011 world champs in
Daegu, the 34-year-old Londoner has enjoyed an unbroken streak of nine global
final wins (the 5000m in 2011, and the double at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and
the 2013 and 2015 worlds).
"It's a little bit sad because obviously track is where
I made it, where it changed my life in terms of competing at London Olympic
Games and winning the double and continuing from there," Farah said of his
decision to step away from the track.
"It's been an amazing journey for me but I have to move
on now, everything must come to an end at some point.
"I'm a little bit sad but at the same time I think I
have some unfinished business on the road."
Farah said he was looking forward to performing in front of
home fans in the British capital for the worlds, with the longer aim to return
to London from his Oregon training camp.
"It's better to end it on a high. If London goes as
well as I want and everything goes perfect, you won't see me on the track, you
might see me do some crazy events, but in terms of 5000 and 10 000 I'll call it
a day," Farah said.
The Somali-born runner, who spent his early years in
Djibouti before moving to Britain at the age of eight, said that a decision to
take part in the marathon at Tokyo 2020 Olympics was not the most pressing item
on his agenda.
"It's really different training for marathon than the
track," he said.
"When I finish track I'd like to be able to sit back a
bit, do a few marathons to get used to it and then after that make a decision.
"To be honest, sometimes I do feel like maybe I'll run
a few marathons and call it a day, it depends on how motivated I am."
Farah added: "I do miss my family, I do miss spending a
lot of time with them. I've seen them grow so fast and it really hurts me
sometimes, to not be able go to parents' evenings at their schools, not being
able to be part of my family because I'm away for six months (every year) and
that's always a challenge for me."