World & Olympic champion Mo Farah served the British crowd what to expect from him in Rio as he stormed to a World Leading mark to win the men’s 5000m in 12.59.29 at the London Diamond League.
Farah who is gunning for an unprecedented Triple-double titles pedaled past other competitors and went out on his own to win in front of the cheering home spectators.
The gap was much that another British athlete, Andrew Butchard who finished 2nd came in with a time of 13.14.85, and Bernard Lagat 3rd running a Season’s Best (SB) of 13:14.96.
Farah will be competing in the 10,000m as well as he aims to also defend his title in that event, and on the evidence of his win in London, it’s hard not seeing him do the unthinkable in Brazil.
On her part, Dafne Schippers displayed how she is gearing up nicely for the Rio Olympics as the World Champion raced to an impressive 22.13s to win the women’s 200m.
It was a race Schippers was never in danger of losing, taking the lead after the first bend and then stretching it as she approached the home straight. USA’s Tiffany Townsend finished 2nd with a time of 22.63s and Joanna Atkins 3rd in 22.64s.
Schippers holds two of the three fastest times in the world this year and remains the favourite for an Olympic title, but Tori Bowie who has run the second fastest time of 21.99s is also a major contender.
In the men’s 110m hurdles, the shine was somehow taken out of the final with Andrew Pozzi who ran the fastest time of 13.12s in the heats not starting. There were two false starts in the race, with European champion Dimitri Bascou eventually winning in 13.20s.
While in the 400m hurdles, Kerron Clement raced to an (SB) of 48.40s, moving from 3rd place after the 9th barrier to pip Javier Culson who was 2nd in 48.63s. Yasmani Copello finished 3rd in 48.70s.
For a moment in the women’s 800m, it looked like Molly Ludlow had wrapped up the win and Lynsey Sharp fighting for 2nd but it’s was Shelayna Oskan Clarke who won it in 1:59.46. Sharp finished 2nd in 1:59.54 and Ludlow 3rd in 1:59.56
Tunisia’s Habiba Ghribi was on her own as she ran an SB of 9:21.35 to win women’s 3000m Steeplechase. Stephanie Garcia finished 2nd in 9:26.26s with Purity Kirui 3rd in 9:30.95
