Swiss watch one last Farah masterclass as great Briton departs track with win
● Thrilling finale in Zurich 5,000m as long-distance legend switches to road
Mo Farah was presented with a gold watch from the organisers of the Weltklasse meeting last night in Zurich to commemorate his retirement from the track but his rivals showed no benevolence to the past master, forcing the fourtime Olympic champion to expend every ounce of energy to claim a farewell victory in the 5,000 metres.
As he prepares to switch to the road, the 34-year-old senses it is the right time to walk away but that familiar dramatic turn of speed was given one last outing as he fended off American rival Paul Chelimo in a repeat of their 1-2 at the 2016 Rio Olympics, with Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris, who dethroned the Briton at this distance at the recent world championships, stumbling into third.
Just 12 hundredths of a second separated the top four but it was as perfect an exit as could have been engineered – as Farah acknowledged.
He said: “It’s amazing. Who would have thought with the result in London, when I was disappointed and happy at the same time. I did my best.
“Since then I’ve been resting up, watching Edris, seeing his tactics , what he normally uses. Studying that. Working it out. My gameplan was to sit on him and make him do a lot of the work. But it came into the last lap and I told myself ‘do not give anyone an inch.’ At one point I went ‘can I hold this?’ I told myself I could. With 200 to go, I was hurting. But then at the end, I pulled out a Colin Jackson dive to the line.”
And off Farah went for one more lap of honour, into the sunset, as Scots singer Amy Mcdonald emerged to serenade the Briton and the other victors on parade.
The emotions would come later, Farah said. “I’m really going to miss it. But everything must come to an end. And it’s nice to give the youngsters a chance. It will be interesting to see who can take over from me – in terms of globally and how long they can hold it for. Because when you have a target on your back, it gets harder emotionally and mentally.”
CJ Ujah, fresh from 4x100 relay gold in London, took what the Londoner insisted was “the best win of his career” in the 100 metres final, running 9.97 secs to see off a field which included world champion Justin Gatlin. Ujah matched Farah in landing the overall Diamond Race trophy and $50,000 bonus.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Ujah said. “I knew what I was capable of. It’s a shame I didn’t get it done at the world champs but I knew the whole season I was in good shape and I proved myself out here.”
Jake Wightman could not repeat his Bislett Games heroics of earlier this summer but the Scot proved he merited his place in the 1,500m final by coming seventh. The 23-yearold was among the main group as the race ignited towards the finish and had the distinction of ending as the leading nonkenyan as world championship silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot headed a sextet of compatriots to claim victory in 3:33.93.
“I knew this would be a step up from Oslo,” said Wightman.
“You look at the world medallists at the front. But I was the first non-kenyan and I’ll take that. It’s a lesson for the future and I need to build on this.”
Eilidh Doyle confessed to fatigue after coming fifth in the 400m hurdles in 55.09 secs.
“It’s getting harder every time,” she said. “I was good until the eighth hurdle but then felt myself really tiring.”
FINAL COUNTDOWN “It came into the last lap and I told myself ‘do not give anyone an inch’.”
MO FARAH