I’m in my best shape for Rio, warns Mo as he blows away rivals
MO FARAH delivered an ominous warning to any rivals who fancy their chances of disrupting his assault on another two distance running titles in Rio next month by declaring himself in the best ever shape heading into a major championships.
It was not braggadocio or an attempt to disrupt anyone’s focus before he attempts to defend his two gold medals, just an honest assessment of his form after running his fastest 5,000metres since before London 2012.
The race at the Anniversary Games developed into a time trial as Farah, almost 100m clear of his closest competition, was required to run a 58-second final lap to own the quickest time in the world this year.
As the bell went, the crowd inside London’s Olympic Stadium rose in unison and applauded, recalling memories of four years previously.
Farah obliged, sprinting the final 400m as two at the back of the field strayed from the kerb to allow him to lap them, before he crossed the line in 12min, 59.29sec. His final lap was an incredible 56.8 and the time was his quickest since a Diamond League meeting in Oregon two months before the 2012 Olympics.
‘I’ve never been in better shape going into a championships,’ he said. ‘But one thing you can’t forget is it’s harder for me to defend an Olympics, the reason being that the rest of the guys have four years of preparation to try and beat me.
‘Anything can happen. They haven’t managed it yet but I’m going to have three Ethiopians, three Kenyans, three Ugandans. They’re going to try and do anything to beat me. I need to keep my feet on the ground and enjoy what I do.’
Farah, 33, is bidding to become only the second man in history, after Finnish legend Lasse Viren in 1976, to retain two Olympic distance titles. First comes the 10,000m on the sec- ond evening of athletics (August 13) when Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford will attempt to recreate the heroics of Super Saturday by defending their own Olympic titles.
Farah has always maintained he is focused on that task before considering the first round of the 5,000m six days later, but his performance yesterday augurs well. Wearing trademark shades, he hit the front after 3,000m with the chasing pack well detached.
Andrew Butchart made it a British one-two, outsprinting American veteran Bernard Lagat down the final straight to finish in 13:14.85.
Farah added: ‘I didn’t know it was that quick. People say Farah comes here and doesn’t always do a time but for me, if training’s going well then I’ll try. I did try today. It was nice to be able to be myself and run my own race. It was hard, but it wasn’t a killer, where you have all the guys and you begin to tense up.’
The freshly laid Mondo track, predicted to be lightning fast, lived up to expectations with six world leading performances, including an astonishing world record of 12.20sec by American 100m hurdler Kendra Harrison on Friday night.
With British Athletics set a challenging target of winning between seven and nine medals in Rio there were encouraging signs some might emerge from the pack to add to the tally. Laura Muir, 23, looks one of the more obvious candidates after breaking Dame Kelly Holmes’ 12year-old record to win a stunning 1,500m on Friday.
Andy Pozzi, 24, who has been blighted by injury since London 2012, set a personal best of 13.19sec into a sizeable headwind in the heats of the 110m hurdles, making him the fourth-fastest Briton ever.
He withdrew from the final with cramp, having done the same at the European Championships in Amsterdam two weeks ago. It must raise serious concerns about his ability to run three rounds in Rio.
Both the women’s and men’s 4x100m relay teams also set world leading times to win. After their stormy exit from the world championships in Beijing last summer, where a botched final baton handover ruled them out of the medals, a calmer, controlled men’s team has emerged. James Dasaolu, Adam Gemili, James Ellington and Cj Ujah beat a Jamaican team weakened by the absence of Usain Bolt to win in 37.78sec.
‘We are a great squad and really get on with each other,’ said Gemili, ‘There has been a lot of hard work from a lot of people to make this team stronger. We believe we are going to push for a gold medal. We are not there to fill the lane and go behind America and Jamaica. We want to be the best, just like the guys in 2004 proved, it’s possible.’
For the first time at the Anniversary Games the IPC programme for Paralympic athletes was held on the same day. Paralympic, World and European champion Richard Whitehead broke his own T42 200m world record with a stunning 23.03 run. The double amputee had a great start and typically fast finish to take victory by almost a second.
Whitehead, 40 last week, said: ‘I’m in heavy training at the moment so 23.03 is fine. The goal is to go to Rio and put a solid 22 in. I still wanted to