Saturday, February 19, 2011
Fresh start: Mo Farah hopes move to America full-time will assist bid to win medals at London Olympics Photo: ACTION IMAGES
The 26 year-old is moving to Portland, Oregon, with the blessing of UK Athletics to be coached full-time by Alberto Salazar, the American long-distance guru who has helped transform the fortunes of US endurance running on the global stage in the last decade.
“Alan Storey has helped me so much,” said Farah. “I finished sixth and seventh in the world and he's a great coach but for me to move forward that little bit, I believe Alberto can make that difference.”
The Somali-born Londoner, one of the headline acts at today’s Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham where he will be attempting to break Nick Rose’s 29-year-old British record of 13min 21.27sec in the rarely run indoor 5,000 metres, will head to Oregon immediately after defending his 3,000m title at next month’s European Indoor Championships in Paris.
His decision is somewhat surprising given the huge strides he made last season, becoming the first Briton to pull off the long-distance double at the European Championships in Barcelona and breaking David Moorcroft’s 28-year-old British outdoor 5,000m record, though he believes changes to his training regime are necessary if he is take the next step and challenge for medals at world and Olympic level.
One of the biggest differences, he says, will be the greater degree of personal guidance he can expect from Salazar, who isrenowned for his attention to detail. His relationship with Storey has been more hands off.
“Having a coach full time to monitor you is important,” he said.
“Sometimes in sessions you want to turn up and push on, some days you are not feeling right, and he tells you when to back off. That's what I need - someone to guide me. I'm going to have him as coach 24/7.”
Salazar, 58, who as an athlete won three successive New York Marathons from 1980 to 1982, coaches some of the United States’ most successful endurance runners, including Kara Goucher, the 2007 world 10,000m bronze medallist, Dathan Ritzenhein, the bronze medallist at the 2009 World Half Marathon Championships, American mile record-holder Alan Webb and the highly talented Galen Rupp.
Farah flew out to the US to join the training group after his victory at the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country in January and his experience convinced him that a permanent move there could get him to the next level. He will be joined in Oregon by his wife and baby daughter.
Farah has attributed much of his improvements in recent years to his regular high-altitude training camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. He insists he will still travel to Africa to train, but this time it will be under Salazar’s supervision.
He said: “I'm going to do similar training but with all the knowledge Alberto has, he can take me on that extra bit.”
Source: The Telegraph
