Arabnews24.ca:Tuesday 31 January 2023 05:21 AM: LONDON — Britain’s four-times Olympic champion Mo Farah said that he expects 2023 to be the final year of his career, after confirming he will give his home London Marathon “one more shot” in April.
Farah, who withdrew from last year’s event due to injury,has run the London Marathon three times with a best finish of third in 2018, the same year he won the Chicago Marathon.
“I’m not going to go to the Olympics and I think 2023 will probably be my last year,” said Farah, who turns 40 in March.
“It has been an amazing career and, for me, to take part in London Marathon is a big deal.
“I have always said it would be nice to win it one day, but it takes a lot … It is just nice to say goodbye and I think it will be quite emotional,” Farah added according to Reuters.
“I am very proud of what I have achieved and I just want to give myself one more shot and see what I can do. But I have nothing to prove.”
Farah will be joined by reigning Commonwealth Games 10,000 metres champion Eilish McColgan, who also withdrew ahead of her debut last year due to a medical issue. The 32-year-old is the daughter of the 1996 winner Liz McColgan.
“It was disappointing not to have taken part in last year’s London Marathon. I had such a fantastic summer on the track and the plan was always to follow that with my marathon debut in London,” the 2021 Birmingham Games gold medallist said.
“But I have been able to take further time to fully prepare for running a marathon and April will come around very quickly so I am extremely excited.
“The London Marathon is obviously a special event for me and my family with my mum having won the 1996 race and I just can’t wait to experience it for myself.”
The race will be held on the streets of London on April 23. The full elite field will be announced on Wednesday.
British sprinter CJ Ujah, meanwhile, has been banned for 22 months for a doping violation at last year’s Tokyo Olympics but cleared of intentionally taking banned substances, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said.
Ujah had been provisionally suspended after Ostarine and S-23 — substances prohibited by world anti-doping organisation WADA — were detected in his A and B samples following the men’s 4x100m relay final in which Britain finished second behind Italy.
The AIU, which oversees integrity issues in international athletics including doping, said Ujah’s ban was effective from Aug. 6 and would be in force until June 5, 2023.
“The AIU and Wada were satisfied that the sprinter’s anti-doping rule violation was not intentional as a result of his ingestion of a contaminated supplement and the applicable two-year period of ineligibility was reduced by two months on account of how promptly he admitted the violation,” a statement from the AIU said.
Ujah and his Great Britain teammates Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake were stripped of their silver medal in February after a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling. Canada were upgraded to silver and China to bronze.
“Obviously, I made a mistake,” Ujah said in an interview with the Guardian after the announcement. “But people make mistakes. I am not a cheat.”
