London: British track and field legend Mo Farah won his 10th consecutive world title on Friday by winning the 10,000-meter world crown at London Stadium where he won Olympic gold in 2012.
The 34-year-old, who will attempt to add a third consecutive world double in the 5000m later in the championship, had a narrow escape from the disaster on the last lap when he was cut twice, but somehow kept his balance to prevail.
Young Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda took the silver and Paul Tanui of Kenya claimed the bronze with Farah, again frustrating the tactics of their respective nations.
“I am proud to be British, it has been a long trip, it has been incredible,” said Farah, who was accompanied by his family in a lap of honor.
“It’s been difficult, but I’m mentally strong, I guess.” He added: “It was amazing tonight, I had to put my head around it. I felt a little emotional at first and then I had to get into the area. Everything has been amazing.
“I knew that with 12 laps going when it went hard from there I knew it was going to be difficult. It was about believing in my final sprint and knowing that I’ve been in that position before. She helped a lot with that experience.”
The Ugandans and Kenyans deployed their strategy of “surging” with them by alternating the passage of lead to not allow Farah to get in a rhythm.
Two-time cross-country world champion Geoffrey Kamworor took the pace with more than 21 laps to race – Farah was seventh from the back, but looking comfortable. Kamworor changed the lead with Cheptegei, the 20-year-old who played the same role he had in the Olympic final in Rio.
Farah moved along around 12 as Kamworor and his compatriot Tanui injected more pace in advance and the trio of Ethiopians appeared big on the scene. However, Farah decided with 14 laps remaining to show them that he was not affected by his tactics of accelerating for the final stretch to run the field briefly.
The Kenyans resumed their control on the front shortly afterwards and went up the pace registering a 61-second lap with the Ugandans hiding behind them and Farah 11th.
However, every time they thought they had it on the Farah strings also accelerated, although Kamworor deliberately slowed the recording speed by a lap of 67 seconds.
With nine laps ahead, the pace was taken by the young Eritrean Aron Kifle, but despite the constant change of pace, Farah, despite lying down, seemed comfortable.
With 2000m of the Cheptegei ribbon led the field but was passed by the fastest man in the world this year Ethiopian Abadi Hadis, who looked in ominously good shape.
With two laps, Farah approached Hadis’s shoulder, past him straight up, and when the bell rang, he looked at the big screen to see how his rivals were behind him.
Despite the two cuts Farah remained nervous and was able to repel a last challenge from the relentless Cheptegei to cross the line with fireworks coming out to celebrate his feat.
Before the race Farah had arrived at the track waving his arms in the air urging the spectators to raise the volume.
Presented as they lined up for the beginning of the crowd, they responded with a deafening roar, but nothing compared to what greeted their champion as he crossed the line in glory half an hour later.
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