MOSCOW, August 16 (R-Sport) – Britain’s Mo Farah narrowly took gold in the 5,000 meters at the world athletics championships in Moscow on Friday, adding it to the 10,000-meter world gold he won last week.
After a race that was slow for the first 4,000 meters, Farah led from the front and turned up the heat, but his trademark spurt of pace on the final lap was less brutally effective than usual and he took gold by around a meter.
"It was a great win, something I've worked so hard on," he said. "I'm so proud to be British."
Farah won in a time of 13 minutes 24.98 seconds, around 16 second faster than his Olympic victory last year but still well off world record pace, as is usual for major finals. The Londoner then embarked on a victory lap, British flag held aloft.
The silver went to Ethiopia's Hagos Gebhriwet in a photo finish, with bronze for Isiah Kiplagat Koech of Kenya – both were clocked at the same time, 13:27.26.
"I was not in good shape today," said a rueful Gebhriwet, while Koech said his bronze was "the best possible" result in a "tough" race.
Double Olympic champion Farah is the first man to hold both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter world titles at the same time since Ethiopian great Kenenisa Bekele in 2009. Like Farah, Bekele had also won double Olympic gold the year before.
