LONDON - Callum Hawkins jokingly threw down the gauntlet to British compatriot Mo Farah after narrowly missing out on a medal in the men's marathon at the IAAF World Championships.
Hawkins ran a personal best of 2 hours 10 minutes and 17 seconds to finish fourth -- equalling his nation's best placing in the event -- behind 24-year-old winner Geoffrey Kirui on Sunday and looked forward to welcoming 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter great Farah on to the road.
"Hopefully he'll see my back," laughed Hawkins about the four-time Olympic champion who plans to retire from the track at the end of the season. "No, he's a quality athlete and hopefully it will be a good head-to-head.
"He's a big name in the world and has got a lot of attention for British running, but there are a few [other athletes] coming up in the wings."
Farah ran 2 hours 8 minutes 21 seconds in his only marathon to date, in London three years ago, but 25-year-old Hawkins is nine years his junior and is one to watch.
He finished ninth at the Rio Olympics last year and, despite a back problem and illness affecting his preparations for these championships, he produced an impressive performance.
Hawkins led for most of the first 10 kilometers but dropped back to ninth when the leaders made a big surge just after halfway. It was telling that he held his nerve then, and gradually moved up the field to finish within a few hundred meters of third place.
"I just need a few more years," he said. "I'm still only 25. I know the boy who won was pretty young so I've still got him to contend with a few years but I'll see how it goes. I'll go to the Commonwealth Games [Gold Coast 2018} and then on to Tokyo [the 2020 Olympics], that's the plan.
"I was wanting to sneak a medal and to see it as I was finishing is a bit tough. I'm a bit annoyed because I could see it [third place] with 200m to go.
"Maybe I should have held him [bronze medal winner Felix Simbu] a bit closer when that big move went but that was a huge move. At the point when they went, I didn't even think I would finish at that pace. Going into the last lap I felt strong and went from strength to strength."