Mo Farah recovered from a last-lap trip to keep his tilt at another long-distance double alive at the World Championships.
Three days on from taking the 10,000m crown, the 32-year-old began his bid to retain the world 5,000m title at the Bird’s Nest.
Like Sunday, though, there was a heart-in-mouth moment as Farah almost hit the deck after a tangle in legs around the final bend, only to regain his balance and finish in 13 minutes 19.44 seconds, 0.06secs.
It was enough to see the Briton qualify behind Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, keeping his hopes alive of a record-breaking third successive long-distance double at major global championships.
“I nearly went down again,” Farah said. “I hope it doesn’t become third time bad luck. Somebody caught my leg. I’ve got a long stride, it’s the way I run.
“I don’t blame anyone, but even in training sometimes my training partners catch my leg which is why I sometimes have to be on the front or the back, or stay on the outside.
“I felt all right, I felt good. I have to recover now and get ready. It’s been an amazing team spirit, incredible. It brings back (memories of) ‘Super Saturday’ with myself, Jess (Ennis-Hill) and Greg (Rutherford).”
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British teenager Dina Asher-Smith laid down the gauntlet yesterday, setting a new 200m personal best in the heats. A month after becoming the first British woman to dip under 11 seconds over half that distance, the 19-year-old crossed the line in 22.22 secs.
Meanwhile, Cuba’s Yarisley Silva dug deep to win the women’s pole vault title. The 28-year-old earlier needed three attempts to scrape past the 4.70m mark but then soeared over 4.90m on her final effort to snatch the gold medal from Brazil’s Fabiana Murer, who managed 4.85m. Greece’s Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou completed the podium with 4.80m.
Also, Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic retained her 400m hurdles title with a convincing victory. Hejnova clocked the fastest time in the world this year, 53.50 seconds, to take gold.
Americans Shamier Little and Cassandra Tate completed the podium, winning silver and bronze respectively in 53.94 and 54.02sec.
