Mo Farah wins 5000m gold at worlds, pulls off ‘double-double’

Leaving the African runners flailing in his wake yet again, Great Britain’s Mo Farah surged to victory in the 5000m final in Moscow, becoming only the second athlete in history to score a “double-double” by winning successive title in the both 5000m and 10,000m in the world championships and the Olympics.

“I never thought in my career I would achieve something like this,” Farah told BBC Sports. “This was very tough – it was all left to the last two laps. I had a lot of pressure but at the same time I enjoy it.”

A relatively slow pace in the first 4000m of the race left the door wide open for Farah to put on a speed clinic for the chasing Kenyan and Ethiopian runners and American Bernard Lagat. Moving into the lead with 800m to go, Farah took off like a bolt. Kenya’s Isiah Kiplangat Koech gave furious chase, pulling alongside the Brit with 200m to go, but Farah’s 53.5-second last lap (and 2:22 final kilometre) was too hot for anyone to handle.

Farah kissed the ground and then collapsed onto his back and covered his face after the 13:26.99 finish. Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet outleaned Koech at the line to take the silver, with the Kenyan settling for bronze.

“For my money he is the greatest we’ve ever had,” said BBC Sport commentator Brendan Fosterr, who won bronze in the 10,000m at the 1976 Olympics.

With gold medals in the 5000m and 10,000m in the 2012 London Olympics and a repeat performance this week in Moscow, Farah matched the “double-double” feat that Ethiopian great Kenenisa Bekele achieved at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 world championships in Berlin.

Watch the final 800m of the race: