Paris (AFP)
Morhad Amdouni brilliantly won the 10,000m European Cup played on Saturday in Birmingham by achieving the minimums for the Tokyo Olympics (July 23 - August 8), a bet attempted but failed by British star Mo Farah for his return to Track.
Reigning European champion in the 10,000m, Amdouni won the race in 27:23:27, just ahead of Belgian Bashir Abdi and Spaniard Carlos Mayo.
Amdouni escaped halfway following only the high tempo proposed by the electronic hare composed of diodes along the track, before cracking slightly at 7,500 m to be finally caught by Abdi and Mayo two laps from the end.
The 32-year-old Frenchman hung on to sprint his two opponents and claim a prestigious victory.
He also achieved the minimum for the Olympic Games over the distance (27: 28.00), while he was already selected for the marathon, thus opening up the possibility of an incredible bet by participating in the two races in Japan.
Amdouni broke his record but failed to wrest France's record from Franco-Swiss Julien Wanders (27: 17.29), who races for Switzerland in international competition.
Far behind, superstar Mo Farah completely missed his bet and his return to the track, four years after his last race on the tartan.
Eighth in 27 min 50 sec 54, the one who went through a marathon in the meantime was unable to keep pace with the best two-thirds of the way and finished far from the Olympic minimum.
The quadruple Olympic champion (two doubles 5,000 and 10,000 m in 2012 and 2016), made his age on Saturday (38) and saw his dream of a fifth Olympic title fade away.
The qualification period for the Olympic high mass ends on June 29, leaving the Briton a very fine margin to try again to achieve the requested time, in a discipline which does not allow the repetition of races.
French side, behind Amdouni, Yann Schrub exploded his record by more than 30 seconds to take a nice 5th place in 27 min 49 sec 64. Mehdi Frère took 11th place in 28 min 03 sec 90 (personal best).
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