European Athletics – News – Farah seeks awards hat-trick as Gemili shows his career choice is proving a wise move

The focus in the voting for the European Athletics’ awards turns to two British men who had a year to remember.

Mo Farah knows all about making history on the track, Adam Gemili is slowly learning. They are Great Britain teammates who will look back on 2013 with great pride and delight as a time for making an impact for different reasons.

There are few superlatives left to underline the distance legend that Farah has become after regaining the World 5000m title and winning the 10,000m crown in Moscow, 12 months on from his double at the Olympics in London.

He is now chasing another landmark  – that of becoming the first man to be named European Athlete of the Year three times in a row.

His credentials speak for themselves after a spectacular year where he joined Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele as the only men to have won the 5000m and 10,000m double-double at the Olympics and World Championships.

Their duel for overall supremacy will now carry its way onto the roads as they both pursue careers in the marathon, but that is for the future.

Now it is the time for reflection, even such recent memories as the way Farah was in such blistering form to win the 10,000m in Moscow on the opening day in 27:21.71 and then a week later defend his 5000m title in style with victory in 13:26.98.

It was the culmination to a season which he ended as the fastest man in Europe in four different events – the 1500m and half-marathon going alongside his 5000m and 10,000m performances.

Domination at its finest from an athlete who has acquired that ability to be in total control of how a race is run. If he decides to stay back, the rest of the field have to be wary; if he decides to go from the front, the rest have to up their ante to go with him; if, as in Gateshead when he won the 5000m at the European Athletics Team Championships with a final lap of 50.89, he chooses to just sprint away, then the rest of the field have no chance.

Few distances runners have had the ability to do that, and it is why Farah has become such a global star.

Had life been different, Gemili, 19, would have been plying his trade in the world of football. He was at the academy of Chelsea and then played as a defender in the English football league for Dagenham & Redbridge.

But he then transferred his speed to the track where he saw greater success ahead and 2013 became the year where he came of age on the senior circuit.

First came victory in the 100m at the European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Tampere as he took gold in 10.20.

Even in a World Championship year, he knew the importance of his gradual progression and he said of his glory in Tampere: "This is the main championships of the year for me so to come here and win gold in the 100m is a brilliant feeling."

That alone would have made him a contender in the European Athletics' awards category of Rising Star but Moscow rubber-stamped that nomination.

Running from lane six in the semi-finals of the 200m, Gemili won his race in 19.98 – becoming only the second Briton to break the 20-second barrier, the national record-holder being John Regis with his time of 19.87 from 1994.

It also took him to eighth on the European Athletics' all-time rankings, with the late Pietro Mennea's 19.72 the quickest.

Gemili had already impressed in the opening round in Moscow with a  personal best of 20.17 before taking his career to a new level and then he finished fifth in the final in 20.08 as Usain Bolt won in 19.66.

But ducking under 20 seconds left him stunned and showed the measure of his progression.

"I can't believe it," he said. "Honestly that is the best feeling in the world. It's crazy, I'm speechless."

If you think Mo Farah should be the Male ‘Athlete’ of the Year and Adam Gemili the Male 'Rising Star' of the Year at the European Athletics awards, here is how to vote before the deadline of this Friday – 27 September – at midnight (CET).


 

European Athletics – News –

For fans to vote for Farah or Gemili, follow these links:

European Athlete of the Year (Male) – https://on.fb.me/19sANlh

European Athletics Rising Star (Male) – https://on.fb.me/15L3PZt

For fans to vote in the other categories, the links are:

European Athlete of the Year (Female) – https://on.fb.me/1fHR5Iz

European Athletics Rising Star (Female) – https://on.fb.me/14stb43

For media to vote, visit www.aipsmedia.com