Cut, bruised Farah still confident of coveted double
LONDON: Mo Farah is confident that he can win the 5 000 metres at the World Athletics Championships despite suffering cuts and bruises and needing three stitches in his left leg after his epic 10 000 metres triumph on Friday.
The 34-year-old Briton was left concerned about his left knee, which he hurt in a clash with Kenyan bronze medallist Paul Tanui during a frenetic last lap.
Yet he was adamant that he would be “fine” to shoot for his fifth consecutive golden 5 000/10 000m distance double at a global championship as he had four days of recovery time before the heats of the shorter event on Wednesday.
Asked by the BBC if he could achieve the double in his final championships as a track runner, Farah responded: “I’ve got a few scratches, I’ve got a few bruises but if I believe enough, and if I rest up enough, it’s possible. I do believe.”
The Briton says it will be his last championship track event before he concentrates on marathon running and he hopes to make it the perfect farewell next Saturday by winning a seventh world title.
Reflecting on the 10 000m, Farah reckoned he had never experienced a race as difficult as the one on Friday, when he faced the biggest test of his six-year unbeaten streak in the championships from the concerted efforts of his Kenyan, Ugandan and Ethiopian rivals.
“With 3 000 to go, I was hurting and I was tired and there was a lot of stuff going on, a lot of elbows. Physically, that race was crazy,” he said.
Ultimately, though, he would not be ruffled, winning his 10th successive global track title in World Championships and Olympics with his fastest-ever championship 10 000m run, 26min 49.51sec, the quickest in the world this year.
Meanwhile, Olympic champion Elaine Thompson ignored a cloudburst to easily win her opening heat in the women’s 100 metres yesterday.
The Jamaican could afford to ease up near the line as she finished in 11.05 seconds while her main rivals also comfortably survived the first stage in front of a crowd of over 50 000.
American Tori Bowie, silver medallist behind Thompson in Rio last year, won her heat in exactly the same time.
Dafne Schippers, who unlike Thompson will run in both the 100 and 200 metres, started her bid for a double by finishing second in her heat in 11.08sec behind Ivorian Marie-josee Ta Lou, still good enough to qualify comfortably.
Gina Lueckenkemper produced the most impressive performance as she won the first heat in a personal of best of 10.95sec, becoming the first German to break 11 seconds since Katrin Krabbe at the 1991 World Championships.
“It was amazing and I am absolutely speechless after that race,” said the 20-year-old. “It was a dream to run sub-11 inside this stadium at these championships.
This just feels so, so good.” – Reuters