Farah retired from track competition this summer with 10 global gold medals over 5000m and 10,000m. Now he wants to write his name into history on the roads, starting with the London Marathon on Sunday 22 April.

“When I decided to concentrate solely on the roads from 2018, I knew that I wanted this to be my first marathon,” said Farah, speaking after winning the Great North Run for a fourth successive time.

“The London Marathon has been a great supporter of me over the years. It doesn’t feel that long ago that I was running the Mini Marathon and in my early years the London Marathon provided me with crucial funding support.

“I can’t wait for next April and will be training as hard as ever over the coming months to ensure I’m in the best shape possible.”

Farah, 34, first ran the Virgin Money London Marathon in 2013 when he took part in just the first half of the race to gain experience of running a major city marathon. He returned the following year when he finished eighth in 2:08:21.