Sir Mo Farah will not be able to defend his 10,000-metre title at the Tokyo Olympics after failing to qualify for the games.

The four-time Olympic champion missed the qualifying time in an invitational 10,000-metre race at the British athletics championships in Manchester on Friday.

Sir Mo, 38, needed to go under 27 minutes 28 seconds at Manchester Regional Arena to book his place on the plane to Tokyo ahead of Sunday night’s deadline.

But he clocked 27 minutes, 47.04 seconds, and will not defend the 10,000-metre title he won in 2012 and 2016.

“You go out there and give it all and that’s all you have,” he said. “It’s quite windy. I tried to push and push and I ran my lungs out.

“I’ve had a wonderful career. I’m very grateful. That’s all I had today.”

Asked if Friday marked the end of his stellar track career, Sir Mo said: “It’s a tough one. If I can’t compete with the best I’m not just going there to finish in a final. Tonight shows it’s not good enough.”

The invitational race was hastily arranged after Sir Mo failed to qualify during the 10,000 trials in Birmingham this month.

He was the second Briton home in eighth on that occasion, taking 27 minutes, 50.54 seconds, and blamed an ankle problem for hampering his attempt.

It was the first time he had lost a 10,000-metre race in a decade having decided to return to the track after focusing on the marathon since 2017.

The British athletics squad for Tokyo will be named on Tuesday. But for the first time since 2004, Sir Mo, who also raced at the 2008 Beijing Games and is a double Olympic champion in the 5,000-metres, will not be in it.

Related posts:

Parents pay tribute to ‘little angel’ killed in early morning Lancashire blast Ex-girlfriend of Babes in the Wood killer found guilty of perjury Two children killed in crash on M1 near Milton Keynes Mental health hospital was closed after CCTV exposed staff being abusive towards patients Corbyn joins Assange supporters as US appeal against decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder UK reports more than 100 coronavirus deaths for second day in a row Raducanu’s win could be most unexpected British sporting story ever UK set to have one million Omicron infections by end of December – but booster jabs effective, says UKHSA Prince Andrew accused of ‘victim blaming’ over demand for accuser’s mental health records Ruth Davidson says mental health history meant she almost did not run as Scottish Tory leader Body of British woman swept away by Tonga tsunami found Govt to undertake review of BBC’s funding model as licence fee frozen for two years