Athletics - Mo Farah breaks both British and European records for the 10,000 metres on his way to the London 2012 Olympics
Last updated 6/6/2011 8:52:43 AM
Mo Farah breaks both British and European records for the 10000 metres on his way to the London 2012 Olympics
Mo Farah's decision to move to the United States for his Olympic build up produced instant rewards in Oregon as he smashed both British and European records for the 10,000 metres.
The slightly built, mild mannered Brit shattered a top-class field at the Eugene Diamond League meeting in Oregon with a winning time of 26 minutes 45.57 seconds, taking a massive six seconds out of the European record set by Mohammed Mourhit way back in 1999.
The 28 year old also smashed another long standing record, Jon Brown's 13-year-old British mark of 27:18.14.
It is as much a mental battle as a physical challenge with the Africans dominating the distance events but Farah has gradually and quietly built up his form and fitness and is now being rewarded.
He said: "I want a world (championship) medal and showed here that if I keep working hard I will be in the mix."
Farah's time, which is also comfortably the fastest in the world this year, saw him come home just ahead of Ehtiopia's Imane Merga, whose time of 26:48.35 was also a new personal best.
"I just sat at the back and worked my way through the field," said Farah, whose previous fastest time was a 27:28.26 set last year.
"This is definitely a special track. If it wasn't for the crowds I would never have done this. With three laps to go I knew I had the chance for the record."
Another notable performance of the evening saw Kenya's Moses Mosop break the 30-year-old world record for the very rarely-run 30,000 meters.
The 25-year-old clocked a time of 1:26:47.4, breaking the previous record of 1:29:18.8 set by Japan's Toshihiko Seko in 1981. It meant little compared with Farah's breakthrough run.