On Saturday afternoon, Mo Farah returned to the site where he won two Olympic gold medals in the men’s 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races. Many in attendance at the Olympic Stadium expected Farah to chase the British record of 7:32.79 held by David Moorcroft for the past 31 years. With two weeks to go until the IAAF World Championships, Farah had other plans. 

“The aim is Moscow. I was never going to go for the record,” Farah said. “The important thing is win your race and get something out of it.”

Farah’s winning time of 7:36.85 was still a seven second personal best in the victory. His seasonal best in the 5,000-meter run remains at 13:05, which just adds to the target on his back heading into Moscow as the favorite.

“I am (the favorite) and that’s hard some times,” Farah said. “Everyone knows what you’re capable of and you’re a marked man with an X on your back. It’s good for the sport and that’s what we need.”

After closing in 50.89 seconds for his final lap at the European Team Championships, Farah doesn’t believe his kick just makes him untouchable.

“You saw what happened in Daegu,” Farah said. “I was the favorite. I never heard of Ibrahim Jeilan and I got beat. Anything can happen. There’s all these new guys and sometimes they’re more hungry than anything else.”



There were rumors circulating that Farah was planning on retiring from the track after Moscow, but Pace Sports Manager Ricky Simms confirmed that they are not true. In the interview, Farah says he hopes to return to London for the IAAF World Championships in 2017. He will be 34.
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Finishing in second was Ryan Hill of North Carolina State, who competed in his first race since hitting the IAAF “B” standard at Heusden’s KBC Nacht. With 700-meters to go, he made his move to try and catch Farah. In the process, he would beat the 2012 10,000-meter bronze medalist in Tariku Bekele.



Hill also earned praise from Andrew Bumbalough, who set an outdoor 3,000-meter personal best as he finished third.

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Farah wanted to go slow and Oregon Project teammate Dathan Ritzenhein wanted to go fast. The American decided to take the lead after the pacemaker dropped out of the race, even though Farah told him not to pass him.

Ritzenhein was not too thrilled about his finish, but commends his fitness after several weeks of hard training following the U.S. Championships in Des Moines.

“My workouts have gone really well, especially the long ones. My fast ones have gone well too, it’s just my top end is just so fast for me. I’m really happy of where my training is, I’m way of ahead of last year.”

Before heading to the Olympics, Ritzenhein ran 13:15.91 at the Aviva London Grand Prix over 5,000-meters. He put Saturday’s performance with last year’s in a “stale” category.

Ritzenhein believes workouts are as good as they were in 2009, where he set his personal best in the 10,000-meter run at 27.22.28. He finished sixth in Osaka and with ample rest in the next two weeks, he looks to imrpove upon that mark. 


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Canadian Cam Levins did not stop to speak to the media. He finished last in the race with a time of 8:00.99. He was spotted on the track with his Oregon Project teammates doing a workout supervised by coach Alberto Salazar. 
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Chris Chavez is a staff writer for Flotrack and a journalism major at Marquette University. He once beat Joey Fatone of NSYNC in a half-marathon. Feel free to to reach him with any questions, comments, or feedback on Twitter or by email.