Ahmed 9th in 10,000m; Van Buskirk and Sifuentes move on in 1,500m

The last lap of today’s 10,000m in Moscow had a striking resemblance to the same race at the IAAF World Championships two years ago, with Great Britain’s Mo Farah and Ethiopia’s Ibrahim Jelian battling for first place. In the end, Farah held his spot at the front, becoming the first British man to win the 10,000m world title and ending Ethiopia’s five-year winning streak. He finished in 27:21:71.

Canadians also have a reason to smile today after Mo Ahmed’s stellar performance amongst the cream of the crop of the world’s distance runners. Ahmed finished ninth in 27:35:76, becoming the first Canadian to ever crack the top 10 in a men’s world championship 10,000m final.

Canada’s second runner, Cam Levins, placed 14th finishing in 27:47:89. He’ll have to quickly shift focus on Tuesday, when races the 5,000m heats.

Saturday’s 10,000m started just before 7 p.m. in Moscow, when it was a hot and humid 27 C. The pack started slower than expected. At the halfway point, Kenya’s Paul Tanui was leading with 13:49:95 on the clock. The pace didn’t pick up much for the next 3,000m. With just 1,000m left, Dathan Ritzenhein had Americans at the edge of their seats as he worked his way to the front.

With less than 800m to go, Farah finally took the lead, looking strong as he broke away on the back straightaway of the last lap. Jeilan sneaked up on him at the last bend, and with him being uncomfortably close behind, Farah was reminded the world championships two years ago where the Ethiopian athlete beat him to first place. The two fought hard for the last stretch. Farah ran the final lap in 54.5. Soon after finishing first, Farah lay down on the track with a wide smile on his face as he placed his hands behind his head.

“I didn’t want to lose again,” he said in an interview after his win, referring to 2011’s world championships. “Training has been hard,” he said, adding that his little daughter didn’t recognize him when he went back to compete in the London Games. He’s the first European to win the 10,000m since Italian Alberto Cova in 1983.

Jeilan says he’s happy with silver. He has recently been ill and had to miss a few key training sessions and thinks this cost him the gold.

The men’s 5,000m finals are on Friday, August 16.

Kate Van Buskirk talks about her breakthrough summer at the Toronto International Track & Field Games in June.

Two of the three Canadian women secured a place in the 1,500m semi-finals early Sunday morning, Eastern time.

Running in the first heat, Toronto’s Kate Van Buskirk managed to move on with a seventh place finish in 4:08.65. Van Buskirk just squeezed through the heats by time, as only the top six in each heat automatically qualify. The semi-final field is then filled out with the next fastest six runners in all of the heats combined.

Olympian Nicole Sifuentes continued her strong year by placing sixth in the third heat in 4:08.54.

Surprisingly, the fastest of the three Canadian women to qualify, Sheila Reid, was not able to make it through in her heat. Reid fell victim to a slow starting group that kicked hard at the finish. She was in position to nab a top spot in the race, but fell out of contention in the final stretch. She came in seventh in 4:10.90. “I was hoping for a lot better,” Reid said candidly right after finding out that she did not advance. “I don’t deserve to be there … 4:10 and that performance doesn’t belong in the semi [final].” Reid has been suffering from an illness since since arriving in Moscow. When asked what she plans on doing next, she said that she initially planned on ending her season after Moscow, but now she didn’t want her season to end with the high note being her 4:02 run at the Prefontaine Classic in June.

Click here for photos of all three heats.

Click here for the complete results of the women’s 1,500m heats.

The women’s semi-final rounds are set to go Tuesday at 12:40 a.m. ET.

Live video and detailed results can be found at trackie.com.