European Athletics (EAA) – News – Britain’s Farah now looking at adding to his record collection on home territory

Great Britain’s Mo Farah, the new holder of the European 10000m record, will give athletics fans a treat in the wake of his suburb run of 26:46.57 on Friday night when he takes on his compatriot Chris Thompson over two races on British soil in the coming months.

The pair will duel over 5000m at both of the British legs of the Samsung Diamond League, firstly in Birmingham on 10 July then in London on 5-6 August.

There will be high hopes that the 2010 European Athletics Championships 5000m and 10000m gold medallist can add the European record over the shorter distance to his growing collection of honours.

The current standard of 12:49.71 was set by Belgium’s Mohammed Mourhit in 2000.

It was Mourhit’s former 10000m record of 26:52.30, which he ran in 1999, which Farah erased from the record books in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday night.

Thompson, the silver medallist behind Farah over the 10000m in Barcelona last summer who improved his best over 25 laps of the track to 27:27:36 last month will be a worthy opponent for his long-time international colleague over the shorter distance even though Farah is the clear favourite in their private head-to-head battle.

Last year, Farah became the first Briton to run under 13 minutes for the 5000m in Zurich. His time of 12:57.94 broke David Moorcroft’s 28-year British record (and former world record) of 13:00.41. By comparison, Thompson set a new personal best of 13:11.51 over the distance at the 2010 Samsung Diamond League meeting in Gateshead.

“Obviously 2011 has been a big year for me with a lot of changes. Life in America is going well and so far this year I’ve had only good results, which gives me confidence when I’m looking ahead to the rest of the season, especially the World Championships. I feel like Berlin [the 2009 World Championships] was such a long time ago now and that I have progressed a lot since then,” said Farah last week, before his run on Friday.

“At the moment my plan is to run four Samsung Diamond League meets before the World Championships.

“Obviously with the Aviva London Grand Prix [on 5-6 August] being one of the last stops before Daegu, I’m keen to get a good result there and look forward to lining up in front of a home crowd.

“To get gold medals in Barcelona and [in the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 3000m] in Paris was fantastic. I don’t feel extra pressure going in to major championships because of my previous performances, I have to think about each race on its own and just shut everything else out.

“Last time I was in Birmingham, I got the indoor European 5000m record and the crowd really pulled me through that race right up to the finish line so I’m excited to get back to the city,” added Farah, looking forward to his first British race in just over a month’s time.

European Athletics (EAA) – News