The manager of world and Olympic 10,000 metres champion Kenenisa Bekele has played down the Ethiopian's chances of defeating the resurgent Mo Farah when the pair clash in Sunday's eagerly anticipated 25-lap final.
Farah is the fastest man in the world this year but his prospects of becoming the first British man to win a 10,000m world crown have been thrown into doubt by Bekele's decision to return to competitive action after a two-year absence.
Bekele has never been beaten over 10,000m – a winning streak that includes four successive world titles. He is also the world record-holder for the event and has bettered Farah's lifetime-best time on six occasions.
But a serious calf injury early last year means Bekele has not raced since September 2009, and his manager, Jos Hermens, admits he will be stepping into the unknown when he goes to the start line at 11.30am BST.
"He's OK but he doesn't know how he'll be," said Hermens yesterday. "It's obviously not the same as going into other world championships.
"He's trained, but he hasn't raced obviously, so we will see. The most important thing for me is that he's back training. London is more important than this. That's all I can say."
Asked whether he believed it possible for an athlete, even of Bekele's status, to win a world crown without so much as a single warm-up race, Hermans was circumspect. "This guy has amazed me many times, but it's not going to be easy," he said. "I have to look at his whole career. He has four world titles already. A fifth would be nice but if that is in 2013, so be it.
One person who does not believe Bekele will trouble Farah is former 10,000m world record-holder David Bedford, who first introduced Farah to Alberto Salazar, the American coach who has transformed the Londoner's fortunes since he moved to the United States to train with him seven months ago.
"I think Mo's got the beating of the field," said Bedford. "The only dark horse is Bekele, and it's impossible to judge what kind of performance he's going to put in without any races.
"I would suspect that, without any races, he won't be sharp enough to beat Farah. If Bekele did win it, you'd have to say it would be one of the most amazing performances you've ever seen."
A victory for Farah would be a morale-boosting start for the rest of the 66-strong GB squad. Defending heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis will hope to continue the momentum when she opens her campaign early tomorrow morning.
Having been the talisman of British athletics for the last couple of years, the Sheffield athlete said she was more than happy to share the limelight, not to mention the burden of expectation, with Farah.
"The focus isn't just on me," she said. "It's now spread a bit and I think that it's great that there's going to be more than one athlete hopefully going for a gold medal. Mo has been amazing this year. I'm really looking forward to seeing him compete."
10am: Men's 800m, semi-finals. 10.15am: Women's long jump, final.
11.30am: Men's 10,000m, final. 12.45pm: Men's 100m, final.