European Athletics (EA) – News – Farah puts himself in the class of the middle-distance legends

In three weeks time Mo Farah will be competing in his last major championship solely as a track runner. The plan has been put in place: Moscow now, next stop the marathon.

It is a logical move for the Great Britain long-distance runner who won the 5000m and 10,000m double at the Olympic Games in London last summer, just a few weeks after retaining his 5000m crown at the European Athletics Championships.

He is all about endurance, power, a slim build that will appreciate the 26.2-mile test and a good, healthy kick if extra speed is needed.

But after the events of Friday night in the Stade Louis II in Monaco, maybe Farah should think again. Never mind stepping up to a longer distance, how about heading down to a shorter one?

As the IAAF Diamond League meeting was treated to one of the greatest 1500m races in history in which the favourite won, as Kenya's world champion Asbel Kiprop triumphed in 3:27.72, the fourth fastest time in history, record books were being re-written by the man in second place.

That was Farah, crossing the line in 3:28.81, a European record and British record of stunning impact. "I am not used to running those speeds," he said, as he tried to come to terms with his achievement.

Farah's time broke the 1997 mark of 3:28.95 that Spain's Fermin Cacho to become Europe's fastest man, but it was the British record that has so much resonance aswell. His performance overtook the 3:29.67 which Steve Cram had run as long ago as this week in 1985, which at the time was a world record, set just down the road in Nice.

And who was there commentating for the BBC as Farah battled his way through into second place ahead of Kenyan Caleb Mwangangi Ndiku? None other than Cram.

He was left both stunned and elated. Cram said on the BBC: "I am shocked in a great way. Mo jokingly said he was after the British record and I laughed but hats off to him. For a 5,000m runner to run like that is unbelievable."

Farah, 30, showed the elements of his speed at the European Athletics Team Championships in Gateshead in June when he won the 5000m with a final lap of 50.89. But the 1500m is such a different race, there is no time to settle, it can all be about quick change of pace from the start, yet he showed the all-round quality he has.

To put into perspective this 1500m run, Farah is now sixth on the all-time world list and Cram and Sebastian Coe (3:29.77) are the only other Britons to have run under 3:30. Not even Steve Ovett, who held the world record three times at the distance, did that. His quickest was 3:30.77 but Farah took his personal best before the race of 3:33.98 into a new sphere with this run.

Farah said: "It is a shock to the system. Training has been going pretty well. The aim was to work on the speed."

It is unlikely to change his plans for the future, but for so long Britain has wondered if it would ever find a middle-distance runner to match the likes of Ovett, Coe and Cram, and it seems the team had one in their ranks all the time.

Great night for French athletes

It was an outstanding night of track and field in Monaco, in this penultimate Diamond League meeting before Moscow. And once more, French athletes showed what a superb summer they are having.

With two bronze medals at the World Championships, from Berlin in 2009 and Daegu in 2011, pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie is determined to add gold to his collection. He is the Olympic and European champion and despite not dominating the Diamond League scene this season, he is heading towards a tremendous peak in Russia.

He was already top of the European Athletics rankings with 5.95m but now he went even higher as he won here with 5.96m, beating American Brad Walker who had a best of 5.78m and Germany's Bjorn Otto, the Olympic and European silver medallist, in third with 5.70m.

A week ago at the French championships in Paris, Jimmy Vicaut smashed the 10-second barrier for the 100m for the first time when he ran 9.95 in both the heats and the final and he showed his ability to maintain those sort of speeds as he finished third in Monaco in 9.99 behind American pair Justin Gatlin, the winner in 9.94, and Dentarius Locke, second in 9.96.

Breaking 10-seconds again will do wonders for Vicaut who has put himself among the medal hopefuls for Moscow.

His French teammate Pierre-Ambroise Bosse is having quite a time of it too. Fresh from winning 800m gold at the European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Tampere, he rubber-stamped his position as Europe's leading man at the distance – no matter the age group – when he finished second in 1:43.76, just 0.04 behind America's national champion Duane Solomon.

Bosse's time was a French under-23 national record and there was an impressive performance from Spain's Kevin Lopez whose third place in 1:43.93 puts him second on the European Athletics rankings.

European javelin champion Vesely Vitezslav returned after injury in style as he won with the best throw in the world this year, his 87.68m coming in the second round of the competition as he beat Russian Dmitri Tarabin (84.33m) and Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen (83.71m).

Croatia's Sandra Perkovic had already secured her victory in the Diamond Race in Lausanne and the discus thrower made it six wins out of six in the series with victory with 65.30m ahead of Yarelys Barrios, of Cuba, second with 64.24m and America's Gia Lewis-Smallwood, third with 63.63m.

Russia's Anna Chicherova is the defending high jump world champion but she was back in second with 1.98m – beating Croatian Blanka Vlasic on countback – as Brigetta Barrett, of the USA, triumphed with 2.01m while in the triple jump, Italy's Daniele Greco took second with 17.25m behind America's Olympic champion Christian Taylor who won with 17.30m.

 

European Athletics (EA) – News