DAEGU 2011: Farah storms to famous 5,000m gold at World Championships

From Tom Reynolds, Sportsbeat, in Daegu

MO FARAH rewrote the history books of UK athletics as he secured his place as the greatest male British distance runner ever.

MAGIC MOMENT: Great Britain's Mo Farah adds 5,000m gold to his 10,000m silver at the World Athletics Championships (Reuters)

Farah added 5,000m gold to his 10,000m silver at the World Athletics Championships, getting his tactics spot on in a cagey race that wound up to a gripping sprint finish finale.

He held his nerve to perfection, hitting his stride on the home straight and timing his surge to the clear to perfection, his winning time 13:23.26.

American Bernard Lagat, the two-time world champion, settled for silver and Ethiopia's Debre Gebremeskel claimed bronze after team-mate Imane Merga's disqualification.

"I'm just very proud and it's not quite sunk in. I came so close in the 10,000m and I wanted this so much," said Farah, the first British man to win a world distance title.

"I just was determined to let no-one past me and I just dug in and gritted my teeth. I knew Bernard would be fast and I just had to relax and learn the lessons from the 10,000m.

"My coach Alberto told me to believe in myself and that's what I did. My family have made a lot of sacrifices for this, moving away from home where we were comfortable, but it's all worth it now."

Pedestrian early pace didn't appear to suit Farah but he stayed calm and kept in contention and then pushed on when it mattered - learning the lessons from his second place earlier in the week.

"I was emotional because you make a lot of sacrifices and work hard and not everything goes smoothly sometimes," added Farah.

"It was a very different feeling crossing the line to when I did it in the 10km, it was an amazing feeling.

"Hearing the national anthem on the podium makes it even more emotional.

"You never know what can happen at London 2012 in terms of trying to do the double.

"You saw what happened in the 10km, it’s not about who’s the favourite or anything else, anyone can come from anywhere.

"I think you have just got to keep training and covering every angle, stay injury free and keep doing what I’m doing."

However, there was disappointment for Phillips Idowu in the triple jump - meaning Britain is still waiting for a world champion to retain their title.

He settled for silver as American Christian Taylor produced a massive 17.96 metre jump - the fifth furthest of all-time - to claim gold.

Idowu had led since the first round and produced a big season's best 17.77m in the fourth round but it was not enough while American Will Claye took bronze.

"I felt like I had a bigger jump in me but it never came about today and it was a very tough competition," said Idowu.

"When Christian jumped I thought I had it in my legs to get it back. It only takes one jump and that was enough for him to win gold.

"Year by year I'm coming out of major championship and picking up medals. I can't complain, I just need to set my focus and prepare for next year."

Elsewhere, British women's sprint relay quartet crashed out in the semi-finals, their time of 43.95 seconds half a second shy of their season's best.

Tiffany Porter, who made a critical error that denied her a 100m hurdles medal 24 hours earlier, was on the lead off leg but her changeover with Anyika Onuora was far from smooth.

Laura Turner produced a solid run but there was too much for Jeanette Kwayke to do on the anchor leg.

“The changeovers weren’t that bad but it’s just unfortunate that the other teams were quicker than us,” said Onuora.

“To be honest there was a lot of very good competition and every heat was stacked and you had a lot of good teams out there so it was always going to be hard.”

Aviva's support, both at home and abroad, is helping the Aviva GB&NI Team at the World Championships in Daegu, Korea. prepare to compete at their best. To find out more, go to aviva.co.uk/athletics or follow us on Twitter @AvivaAthletics 

© Sportsbeat 2011