CARDIFF 2016 PROVES TO BE THE PERFECT STEP TO RIO
Team GB star Mo Farah will be one of 33 athletes who featured at the IAAF/Cardiff University World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff going for gold at the Olympic Games.
Farah will be aiming to complete an unprecedented ‘double-double’ with gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m for the second consecutive Games.
He courageously fought his way to a bronze medal in Cardiff in March as part of his Olympic preparations, with Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor taking the title with a stunning performance.
If Farah is to get gold in the 10,000m in Rio he will need to get the better of three other men who finished in the top 10 at Cardiff 2016.
Bedan Muchiri, who pipped Farah to the silver medal in Cardiff, will represent Kenya in the 10,000m along with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola (5th in Cardiff) and South Africa’s Stephen Mokoka (10th).
Thirteen men, including Team GB’s Callum Hawkins and reigning Commonwealth Games champion Mike Shelley, who raced over the iconic 13.1-mile course in Cardiff will step-up to the full marathon in Rio.
It’s a number that’s reflected in the women’s race, where 13 athletes who competed at the IAAF/Cardiff University World Half Marathon Championships will take on the full 26.2 mile course at the Olympic Games.
Peru’s Gladys Tejeda is the highest-placed athlete from Cardiff to be racing in the marathon having finished ninth at the World Half.
Three women who raced in Cardiff go in the Olympic 10,000m, Australia’s Eloise Wellings (12th in Cardiff), Italy’s Veronica Inglese (16th) and Mexico’s Brenda Flores (50th).
If you want to race on the same course as March’s IAAF/Cardiff University World Half Marathon Championship, sign-up for this year’s Cardiff University/Cardiff Half Marathon.
Register here from just £25. Closing date for entries is midnight on Sunday 11th September.
