Farah a doubt for Istanbul

Mo Farah could be a notable absentee when Great Britain name their team for the upcoming World Indoor Championships in Istanbul next month.

The world 5,000 metres champion revealed after running in Birmingham on Saturday he and his coach Alberto Salazar had yet to decide whether he would race over 3,000m in Turkey.

The United States-based athlete endured an off day at the second city's NIA as he was beaten into second by Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge over two miles, despite setting a new European record for the rarely-run distance.

The 28-year-old said: "I'll have a chat with my coach. We'll just see how it goes. I don't know what he will say."

The two-time European indoor champion, who was clearly working hard to just finish second in Birmingham, revealed the decision over his participation would depend on how he recovered from the race.

"There was nothing guaranteed (before Saturday's race). We (Salazar and Farah) said we could go, it just depended how the race went here (in Birmingham), how I felt," Farah added.

Jessica Ennis will be on the team as she defends her pentathlon title against the Tatyana Chernova, the Russian who took her world heptathlon title in Daegu last summer.

The Sheffield athlete was in scintillating form in Birmingham, running a world leading time in the 60m hurdles, but ruled out doubling up in Istanbul. The pentathlon and the heats for the 60m hurdles both take place on the opening day of competition on March 9.

On competing in both events, Ennis said: "No way, it's not something I've really thought about. It's great to be that competitive in the hurdles, but I need to focus on the pentathlon."

Pole vaulter Holly Bleasdale joins Ennis as a genuine medal contender after an outstanding start to the season, while Anguilla-born long-jumper Shara Proctor will be named in the team on the back of breaking the British indoor record in Birmingham.

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