As a legend runs his last marathon, a rising star races his first. At the grand old age of 40, Mo Farah will be covering 26.2 miles for the final time in London on Sunday.
But his 25-year-old British compatriot Emile Cairess is making his debut over the distance – and has the four-time Olympic champion in his sights.
Asked if he could beat Farah, Cairess told Mail Sport: ‘Definitely. I don’t know what shape he is in, but I am a racer and I am trying to beat as many guys as I can. If Mo is one of them, then it just so happens to be.’
Cairess, who started out under Farah’s old coach Alan Storey, has only raced the Team GB hero once before.
That was in the European 10,000m Cup in 2021, when he finished just 2.55sec behind Farah, who was memorably beaten by another Brit, Marc Scott, the first time he had ever lost to a team-mate in his favoured event.
British running legend Mo Farah will be running his last London marathon at the age of 40
His compatriot Emile Cairess, 25, is running his first – and is hoping to beat the star veteran
The pair have only raced once before, over 10,000m, when he finished 2.55sec behind Farah
Cairess then equalled Farah’s 10km national road record last year, while last month he broke the European 10-mile record of Richard Nerukar, who studied at the same school as him in Bradford.
And now he is taking a step up in distance, Cairess admits Farah’s marathon milestones are on his mind. ‘He has set good British records in the half and the marathon, so they are definitely goals in the future,’ he said. ‘If I could get those one day, that would be a big achievement.’
To put into context the age difference between the duo, when Farah won the first of his six world titles back in 2011, Cairess had just finished 74th in the English Schools Cross-Country Championships.
In 2012, Cairess finished 24th in the Mini London Marathon – a three-mile junior race the day before the main event – as Farah won double gold at the Olympics in the same city.
‘I remember watching him win the 10,000m at London 2012 at my friend’s house,’ said Cairess. ‘It was a great memory and I remember thinking it was fantastic to see a British guy at the top. He inspired a lot of people to get into running.
‘But when you are younger, it is not really relatable. The speed and level he was running at, it feels like a different sport. I was more looking at guys winning the West Yorkshire cross-country and thinking, ‘One day, I wish I could win that’.
‘It’s only as I’ve got older and I’ve got better than I can really appreciate just how good Mo was. The speeds are crazy and incredible. He was fantastic.’
It is why Cairess admits it will be a ‘massive honour’ to stand on the same startline as Farah at the London Marathon, and why he relished sharing a stage with him at a pre-race media event on Thursday.
‘A lot of people would pay to spend five minutes with him, so it’s fantastic to be in his company,’ he said. ‘When we were taking pictures at Buckingham Palace, there must have been 100 people all lined up just watching him. You sort of realise the magnitude of what a big celebrity he is.’
This will be Farah’s fourth London Marathon and first in three years. His best result was a third-place finish in 2018, the same year he won the Chicago Marathon in a British record 2hr 05min 11sec.
Farah and Cairess will not be challenging for the top spots today in a men’s elite race which features four of five fastest marathon runners in history – Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya and Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele, Birhanu Legese and Mosinet Geremew.
The defending champion is Kenyan Amos Kipruto and he is attempting to beat the course record of two hours, two minutes, 37 seconds. But for Cairess, today marks just the start of what he hopes proves to be a long and successful marathon career. ‘I don’t want to build too much pressure because it’s my first one,’ he added.
‘I think I should definitely be under 2hr 10min but I could be a fair bit faster. I definitely think the marathon is where my future lies. If everything goes well, I can try and be competitive at the Paris Olympics.’
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