Mo Farah misses chance to seal Olympic spot after finishing eighth in Birmingham

The 38-year-old now faces a race against the clock to ensure he can post the qualifying time ahead of the Tokyo Games.

Great Britain’s Mo Farah returned to the track in Birmingham (PA Wire)

Mo Farah missed the chance to book his place at next month’s Olympics at the British 10,000m Championships.

The 38-year-old was eighth at the British 10,000m Championships and now faces a race against the clock to ensure he can post the qualifying time ahead of the Tokyo Games.

He finished in 27 minutes 50.54 seconds and will need to go under 27 minutes 28 seconds by the end of the month to guarantee him the chance to defend his 10,000m titles from 2012 and 2016.

Mo Farah, left, could only finish eighth in Birmingham (PA Wire)

It was a disappointing return to the track for the four-time Olympic champion as he made a comeback for the first time in four years, with Marc Scott claiming the British title.

Farah has decided to defend his 10,000m title at the delayed Tokyo Olympics next month after focusing on the marathon since 2017.

Scott, who finished seventh in Birmingham ran under the qualifying time in February to put him second on the UK all-time rankings behind Farah’s national record of 26:46.57.

Eilish McColgan, who already had the Olympic qualifying time, won the women’s race in 31:19:21 after a fast-paced finish while Jess Judd came third behind Israel’s Selamatwit Teferi to seal her place in Tokyo in a personal best of 31:20:84.

McColgan said: “The last kilometre was just an absolute blur. I could not ask for any more.

“My mum (Liz, who won 10,000m silver at the 1988 Olympics) was saying ‘do not leave it to a last lap sprint’ and then I got to 400m and thought ‘oh no, this is a last lap sprint’.”