Mo Farah's return adds spice to Lausanne meet

The return of the beleaguered double Olympic and world champion Mo Farah has added an interesting twist to field that will feature in the 5,000m race at the Lausanne Diamond League on July 7.

Farah, who holds both the world 10,000m and 5,000m titles, had requested to be exempted from the Birmingham event that went down on June 7. He will now take to the track as pressure mounts on his coach Alberto Salazar over alleged doping offences.

(READ: Mo Farah back for 5,000m in Lausanne)

Farah, who recently admitted to having missed two doping tests before the 2012 London Olympics, will be hoping to wade through winners from the past four events in the Diamond League Series as he competes for the first time in the Swiss city. They include Kenya’s 5,000m Olympic bronze medallist Thomas Longosiwa, who won in Birmingham in 13:07.26.
(READ: Farah missed drug tests ahead of 2012 Olympics)

The field also has the strong Ethiopian trio of Yomif Kejelcha, Hagos Gebrhiwet and Imane Merga, and American Ben True.

Kejelcha, who is also the World Junior 5,000m champion, was the winner in Rome in what is currently the world-leading time of 12:58.39 while Gebrhiwet, the 2013 World 5,000m bronze medallist and 2013 World Cross junior champion, won the 3,000m race in Doha in a world lead time of 7:38.08.

True surprised many when he gave the US its maiden victory in New York Diamond League meet over the 5,000m distance when he stunned favourite Longosiwa to victory in 13:29.48.

DENIED REPORTS

Salazar and Farah have categorically denied any wrongdoing, and in an open letter on Wednesday, the Cuban coach refuted BBC documentary allegations he helped runners use banned substances.

"I will never permit doping," Salazar said in his letter. "I have not and will not condone any athlete I train using a banned substance and would never encourage any athlete to use a banned substance."

Farah had earlier said he would not take part in any of the meets until July 17 in Monaco but requested to run in Lausanne.

One of Britain's top sports stars, Farah said he had been emotionally and physically drained by the allegations and pulled out of the Birmingham Diamond League meet on June 7, three days after the documentary was first aired.

"I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs in my life and I never will," said Farah at the time. "I have taken hundreds of drug tests and every single one has been negative," the Somali-born Briton said.

(READ: I have never doped, insists under-fire Farah)

Salazar, under whose guidance Farah has won five global titles over 5,000m and 10,000m, is head coach at the prestigious Nike Oregon Project in Portland and an "unpaid consultant" for UK Athletics.

Farah has said he intends to stand by his coach unless he is proven guilty of any wrongdoing.