Sir Mo Farah finishes ninth in his final London Marathon and reveals Great North Run in September will be last race of his career: “I want to give time to my wife and kids now, as well as getting involved in grassroots sport and giving back to this sport”
Sir Mo Farah will finish his athletics career with the Great North Run in September.
Four-time Olympic champion Farah revealed the news after finishing ninth in his final London Marathon on Sunday.
The 40-year-old plans to compete in the Great Manchester 10K in May before bowing out on September 10 at half-marathon distance.
Speaking to the BBC, Farah said: “The Great North Run is going to be my last-ever run and that will be my goodbye.
“Part of me was wanting to cry [after the London Marathon]. I will miss that feeling, I am emotional today. I want to pass that on.”
Farah won gold in the 10,000 metres and 5,000 metres at London 2012 before repeating the feat at the 2016 Oympics in Rio de Janeiro.
He added: “My career has been amazing, my wife and kids have been with me throughout this journey. I want to give time to them now, as well as getting involved in grassroots sport and giving back to this sport.”
On his London Marathon run of two hours, 10 minutes and 28 seconds – which was over five minutes off his personal best – Farah said: “Training went well and I was confident.
“I thought I could do between 2:05 and 2:07 but you never know with the marathon. I gave it my all but my body just wasn’t responding and that’s when you know when it’s time to call it a day.
“London has been so great to me over the years and I wanted to be here to say thank you to the crowd and the support was just amazing.
“I started here at the mini marathon and to finish here is just incredible. If somebody had said to that kid running the mini marathon that I’ll be Olympic champion, he would never have believed it.
“The sport needs this, we need to give back to the young athletes and teach them what is possible with hard work.”