The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Sir Mo wins on farewell UK track appearance in Birmingham
Fitting send-off for Britain’s greatest-ever distance runner
Britain’s greatest ever distance runner, Mo Farah, received a hero’s send-off from fans and athletes running his last ever UK track race at the Müller Grand Prix Birmingham.
Running the 3,000m in the Alexander Stadium the double, double Olympic 10,000m and 5,000m champion settled in the middle of the pack, only taking the lead just before the final lap bell.
His trademark 150m sprint saw off the opposition, and he waved to the crowd in the home straight to clock 7:38.64.
Spain’s Adel Meechal followed in 7:40.34, while Dunblane athlete Andrew Butchart was fourth in 7:44.10.
“I’m a bit tired but not as tired as I was last week ,” Farah said.
“I’ve had a long career and to come here year after year has been something special. But, at some point, anything we do in life must come to an end and this is it. It’s definitely going to be afterwards that it sinks in.
“This was a day to remember for the rest of my life. Saying goodbye in front of a British crowd is something that means a lot to me.”
Farah will hang up his spikes after competing in the 5,000m at the Zurich Diamond League Zurich on Thursday.
Following a slow opening three laps, the final lap of the Emsley Carr Mile saw an all-Scottish battle down the final 150m as Jake Wightman and Chris O’Hare sprinted to the finish line.
Wightman made up for the disappointment of not making the World Championships 1,500m final, dipping to take the win in 3:54.92. O’Hare was a stride behind in 3:55.01.
Wightman said: “I needed to redeem myself after the World’s, where going out in the semis was pretty gutting. With 300m to go, I could feel Chris (O’Hare) and I knew one of us was going to win, and I’ve not beaten him in a long, long time.
“I knew the shape I was in before World’s, I had the ability to get into that final and I just got it wrong, so I wanted to win out here. I think I was mentally rather than physically tired, but
“At some point, anything we do in life must come to an end and this is it. MOFARAH
everyone’s like that at this time of the season.”
Eilish McColgan (Dundee Hawkhill) celebrated a 3,000m personal best of 8:30.00. Placing fifth, the Dundee Hawkhill Harrier was just shy of Yvonne Murray’s Scottish record of 8:29.02 set in 1988.
Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) had the fastest finish, clocking a national record of 8:28.90.
World Championships team captain Eilidh Doyle (Pitreavie) was fourth in the 400m hurdles in 54.89 as Zuzana Hejnova (Czech Rep) posted a winning season’s best of 54.18 shading Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammed’s 54.20.
The Kinross athlete reflected: “I got off really well. I’m a bit tired after the champs, but I’ll take 54.89. I’ve got to keep training and racing for the remaining Diamond League races. The racing is the fun bit, but training is the difficult bit as the motivation has gone a little after the World Championships.
“But chasing Diamond points has been a good source of motivation and it was great to perform here in front of a home crowd.”
World 800m finalist Lynsey Sharp (Edinburgh AC) moved up from fifth at the bell, taking the lead with 200m to go, but had to give way in the home straight to Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu who clocked 1:59.60 ahead of Sharp’s 1:59.97.
Nijel Amos (Botswana) was the class act in the men’s 800m with a winning 1:44.50. Elliot Giles in fifth was best of the Brits in 1:45. 44.
The men’s 100m saw an empty lane three as world 4x100m relay gold medallist Adam Gemili was disqualified for a false start. Fellow relay gold medallist CJ Ujah won in 10.08.
Double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson (Jamaica) atoned for a disappointing World Championships, winning the women’s 100m in 10.93. GB’s Dina Asher-Smith was fifth in 11.21.
At 32 years old, Dwayne Cowan’s momentous season continued with a 400m-winning PB of 45.34, the GB world 4x400m bronze medallist powering through over the final 20m ahead of Vernon Norwood (USA) 45.52.
Aberdeen’s Zoey Clark followed up her world 4x400m silver medal with eighth (52.87) in a women’s 400m won by Salwa Eid Naser (Bahrain) 50.59.
World champion Ramil Guliyev (Turkey) stamped his authority on the 200m, clocking 20.17. Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Danny Talbot, half of the GB world 4x100m winning quartet, were fifth and sixth respectively.
High jump world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar) only cleared 2.31m at his third attempt but sailed over 2.33m and 2.35m.
Opting to pass at 2.37m Barshim had two failures at 2.39m and again elected to move on to the next height. A fabulous first-time clearance at 2.40m followed, a world lead and meeting record, the first 2.40m jump in the UK for 17 years.