The woman behind – but not that far behind – Britain’s new Mo Farah: How Emile Cairess’s girlfriend is also a top athlete and supports him after they first got together six years ago

The woman behind ‘Britain’s new Mo Farah’ is a top athlete herself, running 800 metre track events, and has supported the runner since they first got together six years ago.

Emile Cairess ran the second fastest British marathon time ever to finish third place at the London marathon today and is hoping to secure a medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

But he has relied on the support of his girlfriend, and fellow runner, Georgia Yearby, 29, along his remarkable journey.

The pair struck up a blissful relationship away from the track and the roads, which is still going strong six years later. 

Last year, Emile finished in sixth place on his London Marathon debut with a time of 2:08:07, an impressive achievement for someone with so little experience.

The British athlete has said he wants to break every British record on the road. Pictured: Emile with his girlfriend

Emile has relied on the support of his girlfriend, and fellow runner Georgia along his remarkable journey

Emile struck up a blissful relationship with Georgie (pictured) away from the track and the roads, which is still going strong six years later

Georgia pictured while wnning the 800 metres at the Northern Senior and Under-20s Championships in Manchester 

Georgia has stuck to shorter distances while Emile has started running marathons too

During the race, the long distance runner caught the eye by wearing a Casio watch that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the 1970s and Emile told Runner’s World that the retro timepiece was a gift from Georgia.

‘That particular Casio was actually my girlfriend’s, but she bought me a different one because she was fed up with me wearing hers,’ he said.

Cairess, 26, added that when he’s not breaking records in athletics, he enjoys spending time with Georgia and her family, as well as supporting Arsenal in the Premier League. 

While Georgia has stuck to shorter distance running, Emile has continued his long distance aspirations.

Emile Cairess’s running career began as a boy when he wanted nothing more than to keep up with his mother, who was jogging to keep fit, as they ran through the streets of West Yorkshire.

At the time, the four-year-old struggled to make it around the block, let alone keep pace with his mother.

But now at the age of 26, he can leave not only his beloved mother behind, but also many of the world’s best long distance runners.

It was a fact that was clear for all to see as he took a remarkable third place at the London Marathon today, becoming the second-fastest British marathon runner on in history.

The 26-year-old claimed a remarkable third place finish in the London Marathon on Sunday. Pictured: Emile (right), alongside first placed Alexander Mutiso Munyao of Kenya (centre) second placed Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia (left) on the podium after today’s race

Emile learned his trade by racing in cross country races in Yorkshire when he was a teenager living in Bradford

The runner, pictured here (left) on the podium at a race in Ireland, decided to focus on running instead of football as a teenager

A young Emile Cairess holds a football trophy while wearing his football kit as a schoolboy

A place at the Paris Olympics this summer awaits for the boy from Bradford, as he looks set to take up the mantle long held by Sir Mo Farah as the face of British long distance running.

It’s a far cry from his humble beginnings in the north of England, and things could have gone very different. 

When he was just a teenager Emile was forced to choose between his two great loves of running and football.

A lover of Thierry Henry, Emile was a right-winger in the mould of his Arsenal idol, but a realisation that he was unlikely to make it to the top helped with his decision to pick athletics instead, alongside the pedigree of his school. 

A bursary student at the Bradford Grammar, he has become the latest in a long line of top athletes to graduate from the £15,000-a-year private school, following in the footsteps of the Triathlete brothers Alastair and Jonathan Brownlee.

He would go on to study at St Mary’s University in London, where he combined his studies with distance running.

His talent was there for all to see after he won a bronze in the 10,000 metres at the 2019 European Under-23 Championships.

More impressively he would win a silver at the 2022 European Cross Country Championships, finishing in second place behind Norwegian Jakob Ingebritsen who has since become one of the fastest 5,000 metre runners in the world.

He would also break the 30-year-old 10-mile record belonging to Richard Nerurkar – a fellow graduate of Bradford Grammar – with a time of 45.57.

Comparisons to Farah come readily – he has trained with Alan Storey, who previously coached the double Olympic champion.

He also equalled Farah’s 10,000 metre record on the road with a time of 27 minutes and 44 seconds at the age of 24, and Emile has been open about his admiration for his fellow Briton.

‘With Mo Farah, when I was younger and he was doing the 2012 Olympics, I was at such a different level that it felt like he was almost doing a different sport,’ he told Runner’s World last week.

Emile Cairess runs along The Mall to a third place finish in Sunday’s London Marathon

Emile pictured alongside Mo Farah and two pacemakers in the 2023 London Marathon. He would go on to finish ahead of the double Olympic champion in the race

The runner has spent every January for the last three years training in Kenya in a bid to improve his running. Pictured: Emile during a training run in Kenya

He said that while his direct inspiration was runners in the year’s above him at school, it was a ‘really cool achievement’ to become the fastest Briton over 10,000 metres on the road.

‘If I’d told myself that when I was younger, I would’ve been shocked,’ he added. 

However, he says Farah’s record was ‘there for the taking’ and has admitted it was one of his goals to equal or beat it while he was still in his early twenties. 

Ambition to be the best drives him – Emile has said he wants to ‘set all the British road records’, being a firm believer that ‘without goals… it’s difficult to achieve big things’.

However it is the marathon which has been the focus of Emile’s attentions over recent years and is the event which had brought him into the public eye.

In 2023 on his London Marathon debut he finished in sixth place with a time of 2:08:07, an impressive achievement for someone with so little experience.

It was made even more impressive when it was found he ran the 26.2-mile course in shoes designed for 10km races, and wearing a Casio watch that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the 1970s.

He is keen to break Farah’s British record of 2:05:11, win an Olympic medal and lower his own personal best in the event to 2 hours and three minutes. 

Emile grimaces as he crosses the finish line in today’s London Marathon, confirming his place at the Paris Olympics in the process

The distance runner has tried to distance himself from comparisons with Mo Farah, insisting they are ‘completely different’

Emile Cairess poses for the camera after finishing in third place in today’s London Marathon

‘I want to run as fast as possible and I feel like I can run a lot quicker than that in the future,’ he told The Guardian before this year’s event. 

‘An Olympic medal is also my goal – definitely for Los Angeles. Although for this Olympics, if I can qualify, then I would like to be competitive. I wouldn’t be going there just to make up the numbers.’

While he hoped to become an international-standard distance runner, there is always a sliver of doubt about whether any athlete will make the grade and as with any long distance runner, the key to his performance is in the preparation. 

He is coached by Italian Renato Canova, who has trained several marathon winners, and he has spent every January for the last three years in Kenya in a bid to reap the benefits of their system.

‘It’s really inspiring and humbling when you see how they achieve such success through a minimalistic lifestyle,’ he told Runner’s World.

‘In Britain, so many people get caught up in the minutiae of training and all the technology and specific food… they overcomplicate things. 

‘In Kenya, life is really simple. Many Brits could learn a lot from Kenyan people’s attitude: just enjoy running and work really hard; do the basics such as sleeping and recovering well and that will lead to good performances.’

It paid off on Sunday, as he stormed to third place in the London Marathon with a time of 2:06:46, cutting nearly a minute-and-a-half from his time the year before.

It was the first time a British man had finished on the podium at the London Marathon since Farah managed it in 2018.

However, his time fell short of the 2:05:11 that Farah ran at the Chicago Marathon six years ago, which still stands as the British record.

Emile Cairess stands on the starting line alongside the other elite men ahead of Sunday’s London Marathon

The 26-year-old seen running down Victoria Embankment in the closing stages of the London Marathon on Sunday

Cairess told Athletics Weekly before the race that he was not expecting records this weekend, but expressed confidence at bettering Farah’s time ‘fairly soon’.

‘I think I can beat that time at some point,’ Cairess revealed. ‘In the future I want to go quite a bit faster than it and I want to be competitive in races like the London Marathon and the Olympics.

‘A marathon takes time, though. Even if your training has gone well, you can’t do this time or that time, you have to take it slowly. It’s a process. I have to be patient.’

With his impressive time, Emile followed his Leeds City club-mate and training partner Phil Sesemann in booking his place at the Paris Olympics. 

Fellow Brit Mahamed Mahamed, who finished fourth in the London Marathon today after a similarly impressive performance, is also in the hat for a spot on Team GB.

He dedicated his performance in this year’s marathon to his cousin who was in a car crash six months ago.

He said: ‘I felt good but it was windy. I stuck to my race plan to move into third place. I’m really proud of that. It pretty much means I’m selected for the team, I’ll definitely be there. 

‘I needed to do another marathon before the Olympics, it’s a risk that paid of. I don’t think I had the fitness for the British record.’ 

Despite the similarities, he is reluctant to invite too much comparison to Farah, insisting they are ‘completely different athletes’.

He told The Guardian: ‘He was one of the best ever. He absolutely dominated the Olympics and world championships and I’m never going to reach that level. 

‘I feel like a road runner and he was more on the track. Also, we’re not the same kind of person.’

So maybe not the new Mo Farah, but perhaps the same Emile Cairess.