HE is double Olympic champion at 5000 metres and 10,000m, and world champion at the former, but Mo Farah acknowledges that everyone is now out to claim his scalp, and that he is always only as good as his last race.

So Birmingham tomorrow, where he runs the 5000m in the Diamond League, assumes enormous importance as a stepping stone to the defence of his world 5000m title in Moscow where he also hopes to avenge his surprise 10k defeat two years ago in Daegu.

To that end, Farah is preparing to go out of his personal comfort zone tomorrow. He has requested two pacemakers to help break his UK record of 12min. 53.11sec. Gideon Gathimba, one of his team, was part of a 4x1500m world record relay squad, and organisers confirm the Kenyan will help deliver 7:42 for the first 3000m. If Farah and his rivals can maintain it, that equates to a 5k time of 12:50.

His lifetime best may only be fifth fastest in the field, but he shows no sign of orchestrating the kind of tactical race which he won with a devastating final lap at Gateshead of 50.89.

The field is headed by Ethiopians who are the world's two fastest men this year, Yenew Alamirew (12:54.95) and Hagos Gebrhiwet (12:55.73), plus four others in addition to Farah who have run inside 13 minutes.

Among those are Moses Kipsiro and Mark Kiptoo, gold and bronze medallists respectively in the Delhi Commonwealth Games 5000m, where Farah elected not to compete. Kipsiro also won the 10k there.

Alamirew and Gebrhiwet are so far ahead of the 13:05.88 which left Farah beaten in Eugene that he must know he is vulnerable. That element of uncertainty adds to the drama, as will the presence of Ethiopian Ibrahim Jeilan, who outsprinted Farah for 10,000m world gold two years ago.

Farah had also expected Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele to be on the start line but he opted for Ostrava on Thursday, where he was outsprinted and finished fourth over 5000m. Indications of the former double Olympic and world 5k and 10k champion's mortality were blindingly manifest, a timely reminder that nothing is forever.

Whether or not Bekele's star is on the wane, Farah's is very much in the ascendant. Having arrived as a Somalian refugee aged eight, Britain's king of the track was in the Royal Box at Wimbledon earlier this week, and yesterday received a CBE from Prince Charles. It was beyond his dreams to be inside Buckingham Palace of which he took photos when he won the London Marathon children's race aged 13.

He relishes tomorrow's challenge. "It's a very strong field," he said. "I've been looking forward to this race after my disappointment at Eugene, so it's important I come out here and try and win the race more than anything else. It's not about the time . . . it's just winning the race that's important. So I am looking forward to it. The crowd are always amazing, and its a good track. I believe the guys can give me a bit more boost, because I will need it for sure. It is exciting.

"Everyone is there, pretty much. All the guys who have been competing in the Diamond League and running decent times."

Farah had been due to race Bekele over 10k in Eugene, but was ill, and opted for the 5k, because he felt an obligation to his sponsors. "I didn't feel great," he explained, "I'd been ill before that, but I had to show myself."

He had no answer to Kenyan Edwin Soi, "a great athlete," but says he has now thrown off the after- effects of illness.

He denied losing his unbeaten post-Olympic record was a monkey off his back. "It's nice to have that unbeaten record, but that's where I was. Everybody gets beaten. The most important thing is to come away from that race and not think about it. When you become Olympic champion, winning two gold medals, all eyes are on you. A lot of people know your tactics and what you are doing. If you are not the champion, you go into it slightly easier."

Birmingham is the start of the business end of the season: "It's the big one. Training has been going well, and everything else. We are getting closer, so most of the work as an athlete you've done now. Most of the hard work, most of the mileage, is done because Moscow is not too far away."

Yet he insists even a double Olympic champion is only as good as his last race. "I believe that. Yes, you are world champion, Olympic champion, but you can't look at what you did last year or the year before.

"You're only as good as this race for sure. I am very laid back, chilled, but you can only do what you can, what your body allows you to do."