Double Olympic, world and European champion set to face likes of Caleb Ndiku, Hagos Gebrhiwet and Yenew Alamirew on May 15

Mo Farah is set to form part of a strong 3000m field when he competes at the Doha leg of the IAAF Diamond League for the first time on May 15.

The double Olympic, world and European champion will be returning to the track after breaking the European half marathon record and becoming the first Briton to go sub-60:00 for 13.1 miles when clocking 59:32 to win the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon earlier this month. That followed the 31-year-old’s world best for two miles indoors at the Sainsbury s Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham in February.

“I ve heard so many great things about the track, the crowd and the competition in Doha,” said Farah. “There are always very strong fields in the distances so this will be a great early season test on the track for me. I m looking forward to a good performance.”

Also set to race in Doha is Kenya’s world indoor 3000m champion and Commonwealth 5000m gold medallist Caleb Ndiku, who also won last year’s Diamond Race series over 3000/5000m.

It will be just the second time the two athletes have competed against each other, Farah being one up in their head-to-head record having clocked 3:28.81 to Ndiku’s 3:29.50 over 1500m in Monaco in 2013.

The pair are due to be joined by the likes of Ethiopia’s world 5000m silver medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet and his compatriot Yenew Alamirew, who set the Doha meeting record of 7:27.26 in 2011.

A Kenyan trio of world 5000m bronze medallist Isiah Koech, Olympic 5000m bronze medallist Thomas Longosiwa and 2008 Olympic 5000m bronze medallist Edwin Soi are also set to contest the event.

“We are delighted to have one of the greatest current Olympic and world champions at our meeting this year,” said the president of the Qatar Athletics Federation, Dahlan Al Hamad, on Farah’s participation.

“Mo Farah s first appearance in Doha will ensure that our tradition of early season distance racing excellence will continue this year.”

The Doha event is the first in the 14-meeting Diamond League series.

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