Mo Farah will gain motivation from being beaten in his first race of 2016, according to one of the coaches who works closely with him.
The 32-year-old suffered a shock defeat in the Edinburgh Cross-Country on Saturday but British Athletics head of endurance Barry Fudge, who works alongside Farah’s coach Alberto Salazar to deliver Farah’s training programme, claimed it will spur him on to greater glory.
‘He’s going to be very angry about this, so he’ll train really hard now. It’s actually not a bad thing that he’s been beaten,’ said Fudge.
The treacherous conditions around Holyrood Park made it impossible for Farah to execute his trademark sprint finish and the double Olympic champion almost fell several times.
‘I’m really happy he’s out in one piece,’ Fudge added. ‘That was my biggest worry, that he was going to slide down the mountain or whatever.
‘He is in the middle of his winter training, so it is a nice line in the sand. I wouldn’t look too much into it. It was very muddy and Mo is a track animal. Hitting a hard track has a big difference on his tendon to squelching in the mud.’
Farah is now at a high-altitude camp in Ethiopia, where he will stay until the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix in February. He will not compete at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, despite it being close to his training base.
Fudge said: ‘It’s all focused towards the Olympics and whatever happens will be based on what is the right thing to do for Rio.’– Daily Mail