Kenenisa Bekele swerves Mo Farah for Paris marathon debut

Kenenisa Bekele will make his marathon debut in Paris in April, ruling out the prospect of a race against Mo Farah in London in the same month.

The Paris Marathon organisers confirmed that Bekele, the winner of three Olympic gold medals at 5,000 metres and 10,000m at the 2004 and 2008 Games, would line up in their race on 6 April – seven days before Farah makes his own debut at the 26.2-mile distance.

Bekele and Farah went head to head in last September's Great North Run when Farah, the reigning world and Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion, was pipped in a sprint finish.