Emile Cairess: "I think I can beat Mo Farah's British record at some point"

19/04/2024 15:28

The 26-year-old states that he wants to break Farah’s six-year-old British record in the near future

It may not happen at this Sunday’s TCS London Marathon (April 21) but Emile Cairess has his eyes on becoming the British record-holder in the marathon.

After his 2:08:07 at last year’s edition in London, Cairess not only nailed the Olympic qualifying standard of 2:08:10 but also went fourth on the UK all-time list.

The only athletes ahead of him are Phil Sesemann, who has already been selected for Team GB after his 2:08:04 in Seville a couple of months ago, Steve Jones and of course Farah.

Farah’s British record of 2:05:11, that he set in Chicago six years ago, hasn’t been threatened at all.

In fact, Farah has still run the three fastest marathon times by a Brit in history. His other two marks were actually set in London, clocking 2:06:21 and 2:05:39 in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Cairess is not expecting to break Farah’s record in the British capital this weekend, stating that “you should judge my potential after seven or eight marathons”. However, the man from Bradford is confident of bettering that longstanding mark “fairly soon”.

“I think I can beat that time (2:05:11) at some point,” Cairess tells AW. “In the future I want to go quite a bit faster than it and I want to be competitive in races like the London Marathon and the Olympics.

“A marathon takes time though. Even if your training has gone well, you can’t do this time or that time, you have to take it slowly. It’s a process. I have to be patient.”

The fact that Cairess ran 2:08:07 on debut last year is exciting and it does make you wonder, how quickly can he actually go?

In February, the 26-year-old narrowly missed the one-hour barrier as he ran a near half-minute personal best of 60:01 at the Napoli City Half Marathon.

Only Callum Hawkins, who is making his long awaited return over 26.2 miles in London this weekend, and Farah have gone quicker over that distance.

Cairess states that he was “disappointed not to run a little bit quicker” in Naples but that he was “happy with the pace”.

It’s no surprise Cairess is holding himself to the highest of standards given his training for London is “significantly better” than last year.

“I’ve had much better preparation,” says the Brit. “I’ve now been a marathon runner for one year and 12 weeks. I’ve done around 40 specific marathon sessions this time around whereas last year it was around 10.

“Training in Kenya has been great with Renato Canova’s group and it’s been really insightful. I’m running with a load of 2:06 guys and it makes those times feel less scary when you’re training with them. You see what they do day in and day out.

“I’ve done much quicker runs in Kenya this year and I’ve built that into my training. I’ve continued that since I’ve come home and the easy runs are not so easy anymore. On top of good mileage it’s good.

“If you do the same preparation that they do and they are doing a certain time then it gives you more confidence to replicate that. It’s not just doing one session here or there, it’s the entire package.”

Once the London Marathon is out the way, you’d think it will be a foregone conclusion that Cairess will join Sesemann on the British Olympic marathon team.

“It would be really special to represent Team GB in Paris,” adds Cairess. “When you’re young, it’s something you dream of being at. But I don’t want to go to the Olympics just to be a part of it, I want to perform. I want to do my best and be competitive.

“I’d say as a country we’re improving [in the marathon] but I actually think we’re still not that strong. If you look at France, Spain or Italy, we’re actually quite weak. We’re working towards a good level but then look at Japan. There are still a lot of countries we’re behind.”

Keep up to date with our race week interviews and news on the AW social media channels and website.

Look out for coverage in our next print magazine as well which is due out at the beginning of May.

» Subscribe to AW magazine here

The post Emile Cairess: “I think I can beat Mo Farah’s British record at some point” appeared first on AW.