Mo Farah’s hopes of competing in the Tokyo Olympics have suffered a setback after he fell 22 seconds short of the time needed to qualify.

The 38-year-old ran the 10,000m in 27 minutes 50.54 seconds – denying him the chance to defend his 2012 and 2016 Olympic titles.

Farah now has until 27 June to run the race in under 27 minutes and 28 seconds.

The four-time Olympic champion had been staging a comeback in the 10,000m on Saturday, after focusing on the marathon for four years.

There had been speculation that he had turned his back on the track during those years, but late in 2019 he announced that he wanted to defend his 10,000m title at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Farah said he had been battling an ankle injury and was “disappointed” with his performance on Saturday.

He added: “The last 10 days haven’t been great but no matter what I achieve in my career, it’s important I come out and show at the trials.

“It would have been easy not to show.

“I dug in deep and with 15 laps to go, you know my face, I was hurting hard.

“I had to keep fighting and digging in.”

Speaking about his injury, he said: “It just suddenly came on.

“I have had some treatment to it and then coming back, it really flared up.

“To be honest, this is the first bit I have done of track in the last two weeks. It is not ideal.

“What makes us great is being able to challenge yourself and prove it. So that is what you have got to do as the next stage.

“I am four-times Olympic champion but that doesn’t mean nothing. You’ve got to go out there each race and mix it with the best and give yourself a chance.”

Marc Scott was crowned British champion after finishing seventh, with a time putting him second on the UK rankings behind Farah’s national record of 26 minutes and 46.57 seconds.

French runner Morhad Amdouni took the top spot in Saturday’s race.

In the women’s 10,000m, Eilish McColgan already had an Olympic qualifying time, but she won in 31 minutes and 19.21 seconds.

McColgan said: “The last kilometre was just an absolute blur. I could not ask for any more.

“My mum (Liz, who won 10,000m silver at the 1988 Olympics) was saying ‘do not leave it to a last lap sprint’ and then I got to 400m and thought ‘oh no, this is a last lap sprint’.”

Jess Judd came third behind Israel’s Selamawit Teferi to seal her place in Tokyo with a personal best of 31 minutes and 20:84 seconds.

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