Mo Farah: Olympian to make world half marathon debut in Cardiff

Mo Farah won the 2014 Great North Run

Mo Farah has been confirmed in Great Britain's team to compete at the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff.

The double Olympic and five-time world track champion, 32, is European half marathon record holder and won the 2014 Great North Run.

The five-man British men's team also features Welshman Dewi Griffiths for the 26 March race.

Kenya's Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor will defend his world title in Cardiff.

Scotland's Callum Hawkins and English pair Matthew Hynes and Ryan McLeod complete the British men's line-up.

Gemma Steel, the 2014 European cross country champion, leads a women's team which also includes Alyson Dixon, Rachel Felton, Charlotte Purdue and Jenny Spink.

Farah's world half marathon debut will form part of his Olympic build-up as he prepares to defend his 5,000m and 10,000m titles in Rio this summer.

The five-time European track champion has said: "It will be a good chance to try to claim another world title."

Farah's half marathon best, however, would not have won him a world medal at the 2014 Championship in Copenhagen, won by Kamworor in 59:08.

But Farah, who competed in his first London Marathon in 2014, did beat Kamworor to the gold medal over 10,000m at the World Championships in Beijing last year.

The 23-year-old Kenyan has declared he is coming to Cardiff to break the world record over 13.1 miles, which currently stands at 58:23 and was set by Eritrea's Zersenay Tadese in 2010 in Lisbon.

Organisers said Farah's appearance was a "major coup" for the event, which hopes to attract 25,000 runners.