Mo Farah’s Tokyo hopes in balance after defeat in 10,000m Olympic trial in Birmingham  

Mo Farah's pursuit of an historic fifth Olympic gold medal could be over after he suffered a crushing defeat and failed to achieve a qualifying time at the European 10,000m Cup in Birmingham.

The four-time Olympic champion hadn't raced the 10,000m since winning gold at the world championships in 2017 after which he made the switch to marathon running.

And it showed on Saturday night as the 38-year-old came in eighth with a time of 27:50.64 at the event that doubled as British qualifiers.

Farah needed to secure a qualifying time of 27:28 – the Olympic standard he hasn't attained due to his absence from the track – and finish among the top two Britons.

"I'm disappointed with the result," he said afterwards adding that he was nursing an injury to his left ankle.

"It would have been easy not to show. I dug in deep and with 15 laps to go, you know my face, I was hurting hard. I had to keep fighting and digging in."

"What makes us great is being able to challenge yourself and prove it. So that is what you have got to do as the next stage."

France's Morhad Amdouni led in the first half of the race, with Belgium's Bashir Abdi – a training partner of Farah's – also in the lead group.

Amdouni then put distance between himself and the chasers to finish first in a personal best time of 27:23.39, just ahead of Abdi, and Spain's Carlos Mayo.

Farah did succeed in finishing in the top two British places behind teammate Marc Scott (27:49.94). But while Scott already held a qualifying time from earlier in the season and will now head to Tokyo, Farah will have to turn his attention to another race if he's to secure his place.

That may come in the 10,000m or the 5,000m, with the British Athletics Championships on 25 June a potential target.

Farah was hoping to compete for a third consecutive Olympic 10,000m gold in Tokyo, having won the 5,000m and 10,000m at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.

In the women's race Eilish McColgan, the daughter of Seoul 1988 silver medallist Liz McColgan, qualified for her first Olympics at Tokyo with a time of 31:19.35.

Now what Mo Farah?

Farah had previously only run once in 2021, winning the Djibouti half-marathon on 5 March.

That victory itself came off a six-month break from competition after he won the Antrim Coast half-marathon in Ireland in September last year.

Farah has said he will quit the track for good after the 10,000m in Tokyo, which is due to take place on 30 July.