Now Mo Farah has a world championship gold medal in the 10,000 to go with his Olympic title.
In a tantalizing finish, Farah had to fight off defending champion Ibrahim Jeilan over the last 150 meters. But instead of giving in at the line like he did two years ago, his finishing speed was such that he had time to cover his face with his hands and cross the line with his arms wide open.
Farah now has to defend his 5,000 title next Friday and, at 30, establish himself as the defining long-distance racer of his time with another long-distance double. Farah had been honing his finishing kick all season, and when he became the fastest European of all time over 1,500 meters last month, he knew he was a world beater.
So did all of Britain, convinced he could do as well as his double at the london Olympics, and the relief of living up to expectations was visible as soon as he crossed the line. The relief was all the more so since he almost tripped when he briefly surged into the lead with about four laps to go.He kissed the Mondo blue track and fell on his back looking up at a sky over the luzhniki Stadium which was just as perfectly blue.Temperatures were close to 27 degrees C (81 degrees F) when Farah ran, but it was even higher when defending champion Edna Kiplagat of Kenya won the first gold medal of the world championships with a blazing late kick on a scorching afternoon.
Bolt in 100m semis
Usain Bolt ran his first race at this year’s world championships, and easily qualified for Sunday’s semifinals. The two-time Olympic champion in the event is trying to regain the world title he surrendered two years ago in South Korea, when he false-started in the final and was disqualified.He still went on to defend his title in the 200 and the 4x100 relay.Bolt won his heat Saturday in 10.07 seconds, leading the entire way and cruising across the line.The race started with a false start, but it wasn’t Bolt this time. Instead, it was the runner to his right, Kemar Hyman of the Cayman Islands.