Thursday 14 August 2014 14:21, UK
Double Olympic and World Champion Mo Farah has successfully defended his European 10,000m crown in Zurich.
On the night that Jo Pavey received her gold medal for landing the Women's 10,000m title 24-hours earlier, Britain went one better in the Men's renewal of the race, with Farah going clear off the final bend to successfully defend his crown and fellow-Brit Andy Vernon doing superbly to follow him home for the silver medal.
Farah always looked to be in control of the contest, sitting on the tail of more than one pacesetter before taking up the running on the final lap.
Although he did have to work a little to shake off his Kenyan-born Turkish opponents Ali Kaya (third) and Polat Arikan, who finished out of the medals, he never looked worried in coming home in front in a time of 28:08.12s.
Farah, who had missed the Commonwealth Games due to an infection after some dental work, said afterwards: “As an athlete when things are going well everything is good. When things aren’t going so well and you’re feeling sick you start to doubt yourself it’s important that you remember the good times and not the bad times.
“I knew that if I went into the last lap and I was at the front I could control it. It was a matter of saving as much energy as I could and just digging in towards the end."
Already the most successful distance runner in the history of British athletics, Farah will aim to become the first athlete ever to defend both the European 10,000m and 5,000m titles and he said: “Hopefully I can do it. Winning the 10,000 has given me good confidence. Hopefully I haven’t taken too much out of myself and I can come back and win the 5,000 again."
