By Mike Rowbottom

mo_farah_birmingham_01-08-11July 31 - Mo Farah indicated he would only run the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Daegu after easily winning the 5,000m title at the Aviva National Championships and trials as one of Britain's defending world champions, triple jumper Phillips Idowu, defended his decision not to compete in Birmingham.

Idowu, who has failed to settle his dispute with UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee following his failure to compete in the European Team Championships, said he needed to rest as the countdown to next month's World Championships in Daegu gathers momentum.

"I've had tough couple of weeks and started a bit of a downward spiral," said Idowu, in an interview with BBC television.

"It's not respectful to come and just do one jump and I'm not at my best right now.

"I didn't want to come out here and give a poor performance to the fans.

"It's all about Daegu for me and my only focus is defending that world title.

"I need to stamp my authority on the event and then go into London as the world champion."

Farah's ambitions of earning a first global title after last season's European double are looking increasingly realistic, and he hardly needed to over-exert himself to earn his second win in the Alexander Stadium in the space of a month following his outstanding performance in the Samsung Diamond League meeting held there.

After winning in 14min 00.72sec, Farah commented: "I'm looking at definitely doing the 10,000m at the World Championships and then I will see how I'm feeling for the 5k."

jessica_ennis_high_jump_birmingham_01-08-11
Jessica Ennis (pictured), who had won the high jump with 1.89m and equalled her personal best in the shot on the opening day, as well as finishing second in the 100m hurdles, warmed up for the defence of her world heptathlon title with a 6.54m personal best in the long jump.

However, it was not enough to beat Shara Proctor, the British newcomer who has recently switched allegiance from Anguilla, who recorded a 6.65m best to win.

"I'm really pleased," said Ennis.

"I've been working on some things in the long jump and I feel that it's improving so I'm glad to have had that jump.

"Hopefully I can put a little bit more on it come Daegu.

"It's been a really good weekend."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
July 2011: Farah 5,000m record eclipses even Bolt in Monaco
July 2011: Farah and Greene deliver astounding performances in Birmingham
June 2011: Mike Rowbottom - Farah's Oregon experiment has made him "more confident than ever before"
June 2011: Farah family miss out on London 2012 Olympic tickets
June 2011: Farah smashes European 10,000 metres record with brilliant performance