Olympic champion Mo Farah is highly unlikely to compete at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow after deciding to prioritise the London marathon.
The Olympic and world 10,000m and 5,000m champion has given a strong indication he will skip competing in Scotland next July and August as he targets the longer distance.
It is a significant blow to Commonwealth Games organisers as Farah’s recent achievements, topped by his two gold medals at London 2012, have made him one of athletics’ leading attractions.
The 30-year-old insists he can focus only on one race next year, but offered faint hope he could be involved in Glasgow.
“I don’t know. It just depends how I come off that marathon,” he said. “My aim is to do the London marathon and that is what I am fully focused on. It’s a bonus if I do it, but it is not on my list.”
Asked what it would take for him to appear in Glasgow, he added: “I’ve got to come off the marathon healthy and then I’d make a decision. You’ve just got to choose one race.” Farah followed his Olympic successes by winning the 5,000m and 10,000m world titles in Moscow earlier this year.
The Somalia-born runner is now considering whether to take on the world’s best in the marathon, revealing his performance in London would play a key role in any decision to run the 26.2-mile event at the 2016 Olympics.
“It all depends on how London goes. The Olympics is a big one. After London I’ll have a chat to my coach,” he said.
Farah has played down suggestions he could break the two-hour barrier for a marathon.
Farah said it was “crazy” to believe he could not only challenge the world record of two hours, three minutes and 23 seconds but smash it by completing the distance in under two hours.
“It’s pretty crazy to say that in my first ever marathon I’m going to shave three minutes off,” he said.
“If you look at the world record it’s slowly been broken before, from 2:04, 2:03. To say I’m going to shave that off is completely crazy.
“I don’t think two hours is going to be broken in the next 10 years or even beyond that.
“Maybe even 100 years because, if you think about it, it’s really difficult.
“The rumours actually started because my sponsors, Nike, are working on a shoe called Sub Two-Hour. They keep working on that and that’s how the rumours started. I never actually said it.”