Mo Farah to race at Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix

Britain's Mo Farah will race over two miles at the Birmingham Grand Prix on 18 February as part of his preparations for the London 2012 Olympics.

The 28-year-old world 5,000m champion returns to the National Indoor Arena where last year he broke the British and European 5,000m records.

Farah, who also won world 10,000m silver in Daegu last year, said: "The Birmingham field will be world class.

"It always is and it's exactly what I need in an Olympic year."

Farah's personal bests over one mile, 3,000m, two miles and 5,000m have all been set in Birmingham over the years.

"Birmingham's a pretty special place to me," he admitted. "I've competed there so many times and I've had some great races there.

"I don't want to go to a meet and know that it will be an easy run.

"I want to be racing against the best and being pushed to run faster. That allows me to work on my race strategy, to keep my head right during the race and to hopefully finish up with a positive result."

Farah, who is based in Portland, Oregon, will begin his 2012 season with a 1500m race at the International Match in Glasgow at the end of January.

John Mayock's 10-year-old British two-mile record is eight minutes 17.06 seconds.