2019 IAAF World Championships

Agent: Mo Farah Will Not Compete At World Championships In Doha

Agent: Mo Farah Will Not Compete At World Championships In Doha

Mo Farah will focus on defending his title at the 2019 Chicago Marathon.

Sep 19, 2019 by Lincoln Shryack
Agent: Mo Farah Will Not Compete At World Championships In Doha

Reigning 10,000m world champion Mo Farah will not defend his title at the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, according to his agent Ricky Simms. Farah was not listed among the IAAF's provisional entries released on Thursday.

“Mo’s next race will be the Chicago Marathon,” Simms told FloTrack over email. “He doesn’t plan to run in Doha as it is too close to Chicago.”

Despite announcing his retirement from track after the 2017 IAAF World Championships, the 36-year-old fueled speculation about a potential comeback in late July when he posted a photo on Instagram of him running a track workout with the hashtag, “#Doha10k”.

But with his intention to defend his 2018 Chicago Marathon title on Oct. 13, competing in the Oct. 6 10,000m was always going to be a tough task. Farah had left the door open by neither confirming nor denying his intention for Doha in the weeks leading up to the championships, but two long-distance races 7,000 miles apart within a week would've been a massive undertaking.

Farah's absence means that, for the first time since 2011, someone new will claim 10,000m gold in Doha. Farah won world titles at the distance in 2013, 2015, and 2017, as well as Olympic titles in 2012 and 2016.