Bekele vows to get back on track

Kenenisa Bekele insisted he remains capable of derailing Mo Farah’s Olympic ambitions despite one of the worst defeats of the Ethiopian legend’s career in the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country on Saturday.

For the first time in 11 years, the three-time Olympic champion finished outside the top ten in a race, looking a mere shadow of the man who has also gained a record 23 world titles.

On the day in which his fellow countrymen were celebrating their own Christmas Day, Bekele was gifted little cheer as he languished eleventh in the three-kilometre elite race in Holyrood Park which was won by 2008 Olympic 1,500 metres gold medallist Asbel Kiprop. However Farah, currently training in Kenya, should not discard the hopes of his great rival just yet.

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“I must put the race behind me and look towards the rest of the year,” said the 29-year-old Bekele, who is yet to confirm if he will defend both his 5,000- and 10,000-metre crowns in London. “Today I wanted to run well but there was nothing there from the very beginning. The defeat is not a problem for me. I had just started training properly before Edinburgh and there is much more to do.”

As much as he has relished his regular outings here, a victory in January is very much secondary to his plans.

“I don’t want to get into great shape too early. The Olympics are a long way away and that is when I must be at my very best. That remains the most important thing for me. I have no injuries and now I am ready to do some hard work.”

While Kenya’s Kiprop was dominant, British teenager Jonny Hay grabbed second place on his senior debut, over-powering defending champion Eliud Kipchoge with a late sprint through the mud. Urged on by his coach Mick Woods, who earlier had watched his protégé Emilia Gorecka win the junior women’s race, the European junior 5,000 metres medallist claimed an audacious scalp.

“It went off quite slowly but I just sat in there with them,” Hay said. “I could hear Mick all around the course which gave me a real confidence boost. When I came off the final downhill into the home straight I was getting faster and faster and I thought ‘I’ve just got to for it’.”

The International Team Challenge was won by Great Britain ahead of the USA and Europe, despite victories for Ayad Lamdassem of Spain and Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton.

Lamdassam produced a burst over the final stages to run away with the senior men’s 9K while Britton underlined her current level of confidence as European champion by powering clear of the field in the women’s 3K event.

Edinburgh’s Freya Murray, who will now turn her attentions to preparing for her marathon debut in London in April, was fifth while fellow Scot Steph Twell was left disappointed with her own performance as she trailed in ninth. The 23-year-old, still chasing peak form after injury, now plans to run a short indoor season to prepare herself for a 1,500 metres tilt in London.

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“I’d like to get the Olympic qualifying time done but I won’t put pressure on myself because I’ve not run indoors before,” she said.

Beth Potter, who will fly with Twell and Murray to Kenya this week for a UK Athletics altitude training camp, claimed the Inter-District title and led Scotland to the first of four victories in the adjoining Celtic Nations match. Murray Strain won the men’s Inter-District crown, holding off Andrew Douglas.

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