Double world and Olympic champion returned after time out through illness to regain European 10,000m title in Zurich

Mo Farah has spoken of the importance of regaining his European 10,000m title after having to pull out of the Commonwealth Games and recent illness problems.

The double Olympic champion made his season debut in Zurich following recovery from the Virgin Money London Marathon and a “scary” collapse at his base in the United States linked to undiagnosed stomach problems.

Farah said: “Only three weeks ago I pulled out of the Commonwealth Games and things weren’t going well so to come out and win it meant a lot tonight.”

He decided after three weeks of training in Font Romeu that he was sufficiently recovered, although he was pushed closer over the final lap than many expected.

However, Farah said afterwards. “I wasn’t worried at all. I just wanted to make sure I had something left towards the end and I changed gear with 50 metres to go. If I had to continue then I would. But you learn from races and I’ve learned a lot over the past years, particularly in Daegu (world 10,000m in 2011) when I went from 500 metres and didn’t have enough left.”

He faced further questioning regarding his collapse and why he tried to keep full details secret for so long.

He said: “Why am I going to let my opposition know what’s going on in my life? What’s it going to do for me in terms of my career? It’s just going to make them train harder. If they know you’re not 100% they’re going to go hard and push and push. If the guys knew what was going on and how much training I’d missed then it makes it easier for them to go to the front and push on and make it a hard race.”

Farah is due to contest the 5000m on Sunday to seek a record-equalling sixth European gold medal.

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