ZURICH: Mohamed Farah won the final track race of his career by the skin of his teeth on Thursday, clinching a dramatic 5,000 metres win at the Weltklasse Diamond League after three chasing rivals collided with each other in the last couple of metres.
World champion Muktar Edris, who beat Farah at the World Championships in London two weeks ago, was among the trio left sprawled on the track in the Briton’s wake as Farah dived over the line.
With quadruple Olympic and six-time world champion Farah leading going into the final straight, Ethiopian Edris came powering through and appeared set to snatch victory on the line.
But Edris tripped after being clipped on the shoulder by Paul Chelimo as the American tried to force his way through a gap and he in turn bowled over Yomif Kejelcha, another Ethiopian, on the outside.
But Farah doggedly held his lead to clock 13 minutes 6.05 seconds, 0.04 ahead of Chelimo and Edris as just 0.13 seconds separated the first four men. However, Chelimo was later disqualified for obstruction with Kejelcha promoted to third place.
“Oh man, I had to fight the last 200 metres there. I managed to hold them,” the 34-year-old Farah, who will now switch to road running, said.
“I will miss the track, the people, my fans. I have enjoyed running in stadiums for a lot of years, but now first of all I will enjoy being with my family.”
There was plenty of drama elsewhere, not least in the 400 metres which was won by Botswana’s Isaac Makwala who was barred from the same event in London by the IAAF after falling ill despite the athlete saying he was fit to run.
Makwala showed what track fans missed by clocking a 43.95 winning time on Thursday that was 0.03 faster than Wayde van Niekerk’s gold-medal performance.
The outstanding time of the meet was run by an Olympic champion who placed only fifth at the world championships.
Ruth Jebet, the Kenyan-born 20-year-old runner who represents Bahrain, clocked the second fastest time ever in the women’s 3,000 steeplechase.
Jebet’s 8 minutes, 55.29 seconds was less than three seconds outside the record she set a year ago in Paris. World champion Emma Coburn of the US was fourth in 9min 14.81sec.
GATLIN SLUMPS
It proved a night to forget for controversial American sprinter Justin Gatlin who captured the world 100m title in London.
Gatlin, who served a four-year doping ban from 2006-2010, wasn’t jeeered as he was in London, where he gatecrashed Usain Bolt’s farewell party, but was beaten into fourth place in 10.04sec with Britain’s Chijindu Ujah taking victory in 9.97sec.
Ujah, part of Britain’s 4x100m relay title-winning squad at the world championships, finished ahead of Ivory Coast’s Ben Youssef Meite (9.97sec) with Ronnie Baker of the US completing the podium (10.01sec).
Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands, world champion in the 200 metres, was also fourth as Shaunae Miller-Uibo produced a late surge over the last few metres to win in a Bahamas record time of 21.88 seconds. Olympic champion Elaine Thompson of Jamaica was second in 22.00.
It was the second shock failure of the season for Thompson, the Jamaican sprinter who captured Olympic gold in the 100m and 200m in Rio in 2016. In the 100m at the world championships, she finished in a lowly fifth place.
Norway’s Karsten Warholm, a surprise world champion in the 400 metres hurdles, was upstaged by Kyron McMaster of British Virgin Islands after he faltered at the eighth barrier.
Timothy Cheruiyot, silver medallist in London, won the men’s 1,500 metres while world champion and fellow Kenyan Elijah Manangoi was third.
There were no surprises, however, in the women’s 800 metres where South African Caster Semenya powered into the lead with around 200 metres left to win comfortably.
Other world champions who celebrated their triumphs in style included Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim who won the high jump with 2.36 metres and Sam Kendricks of the United States who took the pole vault with 5.87 metres.
Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2017