Bekele in star field at Edinburgh cross country
Olympic champions Kenenisa Bekele, Asbel Kiprop and Brimin Kipruto will compete in the Edinburgh Cross Country in January, organisers announced Monday.
The trio will feature in the invitation three-kilometre race, with an international team challenge between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States and a European select also taking place.
For Ethiopia's Bekele, who won the 5 000 and 10 000-metres double in Beijing in 2008, it is an important event ahead of the London 2012 Games.
He said on www.scottishathletics.org.uk: "I feel very comfortable starting my important Olympic year by competing in Edinburgh.
"Because of all the wonderful cross-country races I have run there, and the memories of becoming world champion in Edinburgh after losing my spike, it will feel like coming home."
He added: "I am looking forward to competing with Mo Farah in front of his home crowd, which could make the 10 000m one of the greatest races of the Games."
Kenya duo Kiprop and Kipruto, Olympic champions in the 1500m and 3000m steeplechase, respectively, are to return to the Holyrood Park race after finishing second and third in 2011 to compatriot Eliud Kipchoge in the 4km race.
Farah, this year's world 5 000m champion on the track, won the 8km event in 2011.