ANDY Butchart is evidently not a man struggling for confidence. Anyone who can greet their introduction ahead of a world championship final by cheekily stroking their freshly-grown moustache is not likely to ever find themselves crippled by shyness. The facial hair will get another outing this afternoon when the 25-year-old goes in what will likely be an emotionally-charged 3000m, the final race of the Diamond League meet in Birmingham.

“I’ve had comments about it – some good, some bad!” he said with a laugh. “It’s staying for the time being. But if I’m keeping it I need to go somewhere sunny so it stays blonde. If I stay in the UK it goes brown. And I don’t want a brown moustache.”

Butchart’s breezy outlook ought to stand him in good stead for the challenges ahead. With Mo Farah about to call time on his track career – this is his final race on British soil – there is a void in long-distance running looming and the Dunblane athlete hopes he can be the man to fill it.

He is not at Farah’s level yet – who is? – but Butchart’s pedigree is undoubtedly impressive. A sixth-place finish in the 5000m at last year’s Rio Olympics was followed up by an eighth placing over the same distance at the recent world championships in London. No other Brit featured in either race, paving the way for Butchart to go on to fill Farah’s boots in the years ahead.

“I think there are a few of us up-and-coming who will be looking to take over the baton from Mo,” he said. “It was really interesting to be in his last championship race in London, with the crowd starting to recognise you and giving you massive cheers as well.

“I’ll definitely take that away with me and know that the British public are looking for someone to take over that mantle at 5000m and maybe 10,000m as well. There’s nobody else making major finals at the moment so it’s going to be fun for me trying to live up that challenge.

“It’s going to be a shame losing Mo as that’s been an almost guaranteed two medals at every championship. So someone needs to fill that void. And hopefully that can be me.”

London was important for Butchart, giving him the chance to prove that he could mix it with the long-distance elite on a consistent basis.

“Some people might have looked at what I did last year and wondered if it was just a one-off,” he said. “You see that sometimes when an athlete looks to have made the breakthrough and then they just fall off the face of the earth.

“So it was nice for me to back up what I did in 2016 with an even strong, if not stronger, 2017. It’s always hard to improve on a strong Olympics finish but I’m really happy that I’ve done that. People believe in me a lot more now.

“Last year was such a big step-up for me. The year before I was doing Scottish championships. And then I was doing the Olympics. So I’ve got a lot more experience. The main aim of this year was to back up what I did in Rio so to finish sixth last year and then eighth this year I feel like I’ve claimed my place among the top 10 runners in the world. And that’s a good place to be.”

Butchart did not die wondering in the 5000m final, making a dash to join Farah at the front of the pack at one point but unable to sustain the pace.

“I’ve had a bit of time to reflect,” he added. “I watched the race back and I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t have a little bit more of an impact. I would definitely do things differently if I could run it again.

“From nine laps to go until two laps to go the race went way too fast. I looked up and saw we had nine laps left and then the next thing I knew we had just two lefts to go and I was 15 to 20 metres off the lead. You can’t give that kind of lead to these guys with just two laps to go. Too much energy was wasted getting to the front with 600m to go. If I had done that with 1000m or 800m to go it would have been fine and I could have placed higher up.

“But I don’t think I would have finished higher than fifth against those guys. I was either going to be fifth or eighth so it’s not really that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. And if I got fifth I would just have been wishing I had got third. You always want more. But I’m not a what-if kinda guy. I’m happy with eighth.”

Butchart is winding down for the year, with races in Berlin and Newcastle to follow, and is looking forward to being a part of Farah’s big farewell.

“It will be fun to get out there for Mo’s last race in the UK,” he said. “He’s obviously a bit disheartened with how it finished for him in London. I spoke to him briefly after that and I do want him to go out with a win if he can, even though a few of us have to try to upset that. I still think he’s the best long-distance athlete in the world.”