Paris (AFP)

British star Mo Farah, four-time Olympic champion exiled on the road for four years, returns to the track on Saturday at the 10,000m European Cup in Birmingham where he seeks to qualify for the Tokyo Games (23 July -8 August).

At 38, Mo Farah is looking for a 5th Olympic title after his two resounding doubles 5,000 and 10,000 m in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.

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After the 2017 Worlds in London, the Briton had yet decided to devote himself entirely to the road and try to shine on the queen distance of the marathon.

But he did not have the success he hoped for, despite a victory in Chicago in 2018 and a personal best in 2 h 5 min 11 sec.

On Saturday, he lined up for the 10,000m European Cup (start at 9.15pm) initially scheduled in London but exiled in Birmingham, for his first track race since 2017, apart from his successful hour record in September. 2020 in Brussels (21,330 km).

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The race will also serve as the Olympic selection for the Great Britain team over the distance.

To see Tokyo, Mo Farah must finish in the top two Britons and above all succeed in the international minimums (27: 28.00).

The British federation has left the margin, since it will be able to select a third athlete, provided that he has achieved the minimums.

The game is not won in advance for the ennobling "Sir" Mo Farah, who has to face an exceptional generation of compatriots: Marc Scott (27 years old) and Sam Atkin (28 years old) already have qualifying time in pocket, and young Jake Smith (23) ran an impressive marathon in April (2h11: 00) when he was only planned as a hare.

- "I really missed it" -

Above all, Farah's state of form is a total unknown between his advanced age, his lack of benchmarks for lack of competition, and his participation in a reality show at the end of 2020. Enough to question his ability to succeed without a hare in the time required. , which would have been a formality in his heyday.

"My training is going well, I just have one race in front of me. It's up to me to try to get the qualifying time, it promises to be exciting," he told Sky Sports.

"When I think about the track, I really missed it, and that's one of the reasons I wanted to come back and see if I was able to defend my title and write history," added the athlete whose reputation was tarnished by the suspension in 2019 of his former American mentor Alberto Salazar (they separated in 2017) for "organizing and inciting prohibited doping conduct", unrelated to Farah.

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While no Frenchman has achieved the minimum over the distance, the Blues are moving in force to Birmingham with in particular the reigning European champion Morhad Amdouni, already selected for the marathon, which could open the door of a crazy bet in Tokyo (10,000 m + marathon).

Amdouni will be accompanied by François Barrer, Florian Carvalho, Mehdi Frère, Fabien Palcau, Yann Schrub, Melody Julien, Samira Mezeghrane-Saad and Susan Jeptoo, the latter having already been selected for the Olympic marathon.

© 2021 AFP