LONDON: Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah’s hopes of ending his track career at the Tokyo Games suffered a huge blow as he fell short of the qualifying mark for the 10,000 metres in Birmingham on Saturday.

The 38-year-old finished eighth, behind fellow Briton Marc Scott, in the European Cup, which doubled as British Olympic trial.

Farah’s time in his first race at this distance for four years was 22 seconds short of the required standard of 27 mins 28 secs to qualify for the Games which are due to start on July 23.

He blamed a foot injury for his poor showing, which had prevented him from training over the last two weeks.

“I am four-times Olympic champion but that doesn’t mean nothing. You’ve got to go out there each race and mix it with the best and give yourself a chance,” said Farah.

“I’ve been carrying a niggle since I came back from training. It is frustrating because I have done a lot of good work in Flagstaff (Arizona). If you would have asked me two weeks ago it would have been a lot different. It’s part of the sport.

“It just suddenly came on. I have had some treatment to it and then coming back, it really flared up. To be honest, this is the first bit I have done of track in the last two weeks. It is not ideal.”