Mo Farah believes his big-race experience will carry his battered and bloodied body to yet another world title in the 5,000m – but admits he will again be looking over his shoulder at the brilliant young Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, who ran him so close in Friday’s 10,000m final.
Farah, who runs in the heats of the 5,000m on Wednesday night before Saturday’s final, is still nursing the after-effects of a choppy 10,000m final during which he tripped twice, spiked, and suffered a bruised knee. However, he has taken a leaf out of his 2012 London Olympics playbook by recovering in a cyro-sauna, which uses nitrogen to lower his skin surface temperature, as well as ensuring he does nothing more strenuous than play regular games of Fifa on the British team’s PlayStation.
“Experience is everything,” said Farah. “If you’ve been in a situation before and done it then it’s easier to deal with and that will help me massively.
“It’s like when I had a chance to live with the Kenyans. That’s what really changed me as an athlete. You see them and you tell yourself: ‘If what I am doing is not right and what they’re doing is right, how are you going to beat them?’”
On paper, Farah’s biggest challenge looks likely to come from the Ethiopian Muktar Edris and his 17-year-old compatriot Selemon Barega, who have run the two fastest times in the world this year. Farah, though, believes that the 20-year-old Cheptegei, who has run the third quickest 5,000m in 2017, is the man to beat again. “Cheptegei is strong,” he says. “He’s the one coming through.” But, with a clear nod to Barega as well, he added: “It’s all the new ones that are a bit more scary to race because they are raw. They don’t know what they are doing. They just go for it.”
But he warned his rivals that, just as in the 10,000m final, he would not back down. “A lot of times people say you are nice and try to take advantage,” he admitted. “But you have to be ruthless on the track and off it sometimes.”
Farah also expressed admiration for his team-mate Andy Butchart, who finished sixth at last year’s Olympics, but said it would be a surprise if he won a medal. “It is going to be tough for him, but if the race is run how it suits him then he has a chance,” he added. “We have a lot of guys who believe in themselves now and he is one of them. He will give you 110%, come out on the line and he is going to try his best. But the years of experience I’ve had tells me it’s going to be difficult for him to get a medal.”
