Farah becomes the man to beat

Farah was made to work hard in his heat of the 5,000m yesterday morning, eventually finishing third in 13 minutes 26 seconds to reach Saturday’s final.

“I am definitely tired and I think it showed out there,” the 29-year-old said. “The legs didn’t feel great but that is what happens. Hopefully I will recover well and look forward to the final, forget about what I have done and rest up.

“It was a really rough race. It was like being in the ring with Anthony Ogogo! As soon as they saw me there was a lot of barging and pushing. I got caught so many times.

“There is definitely a target. I am the Olympic champion over 10,000 metres. You just have to accept it. Hopefully the final won’t be as rough because we won’t have so many guys.”

Farah is the first British man to win Olympic gold in the 10,000m, while he will be aiming to follow in the footsteps of Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele (2008) by claiming the long-distance double.

He insisted he had not thought about withdrawing from the 5,000m despite the draining effects of last Saturday, when he won Britain’s third gold in the space of 45 minutes.

“By the time I got back it was a late night and there was a lot of emotion,” he said. “It is something I had never done before and now I know how much it takes out of you. There is zero pressure. I am not putting any pressure on myself. I want to do well for the crowd because the support drives you further.”

Elsewhere, Sophie Hitchon improved her own British record in the last round of qualifying to reach the women’s hammer final.

The 21-year-old looked to be heading out but produced a superb throw of 71.98m, enough for 10th overall. Steve Lewis had an easier time in qualifying for the pole vault final, a single clearance of 5.50m proving enough to go through as one of the 14 qualifiers.