Farah defends 10,000m title

BEIJING — Mo Farah scored his name in the pantheon of middle distance running greats Saturday when he defended his 10,000m title at the World Championships here. The Briton’s victory was his sixth consecutive global track distance title, an unprecedented feat that saw him better the likes of Ethiopian legends Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie. Since losing to Ibrahim Jeilan in the 10,000m at the 2011 worlds in Daegu, Farah rebounded to win the 5,000m in South Korea, and followed up with 5,000m-10,000m doubles at both the London 2012 Olympics and the 2013 World Championships in Moscow. Having now defended his title here, he will have a chance to make it seven global titles in the 5,000m, scheduled for next Saturday. Should he win that race, he would become the first man to complete a 5,000 and 10,000m double at consecutive world championships. Farah clocked 27min 01.13sec for gold ahead of Kenyans Geoffrey Kamworor (27:01.76) and Paul Tanui (27.02.83). A gentle early pace was set by Japan-based Tanui, Farah happy to sit near the back of the pack. Tanui’s teammates, Bedan Karoki and Kamworor, the 2015 world cross-country and 2014 half-marathon champion, bunched at the front, injecting some pace but not really surging enough to bother the field. With 16 laps to go, the Somali-born Farah gently moved up through the field on the tail of American training partner Galen Rupp and behind Merga and the Kenyans. Soon that lead pack was cut to five, Merga dropping out to leave just Kamworor, Tanui, Rupp, Farah and Merga. Farah, known for his blistering last-lap pace, made his move with 500m to go, moving slickly to the front and peeling away. Although tracked by the fast-finishing Kamworor and Tanui, the Londoner held on for victory that made up for his Bird’s Nest outing at the 2008 Olympics, when he failed to qualify and suffered what described as the “biggest disappointment” in his career. Earlier, German Christina Schwanitz confirmed her status as the form shot-putter of 2015 by winning her first world championship gold medal with a throw of 20.37 meters. The 29-year-old disappointed the home crowd at the Bird’s Nest stadium by edging Gong Lijao into second place with her third throw, leaving the Chinese to take silver on the back of her third effort of 20.30m. American Michelle Carter threw 19.76m to beat Anita Marton, who bettered Hungary’s national record with her best attempt of 19.48m, and take the bronze medal. New Zealander Valerie Adams, who won gold at the last four world championships, elected to skip the meeting so she could undergo shoulder and elbow surgeries with an eye on her Olympic title defence in Rio de Janeiro next year. In the morning session on a hot but clear day, 19-year-old Ghirmay Ghebreslassie became the youngest man to win the marathon and the first world champion from Eritrea. Ghebreslassie finished in 2 hours, 12 minutes, 27 seconds, holding off Yemane Tsegay of Ethiopia by 40 seconds. Solomon Mutai of Uganda was third, while his teammate, defending world champion Stephen Kiprotich, was sixth. The biggest surprise of all was the wipeout of the Kenyan team, which some favored to get a sweep in Beijing. Instead, world-record holder Dennis Kimetto and Kenyan teammate Wilson Kipsang dropped out of the race while Mark Korir finished 22nd. Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin moved closer to setting up the biggest duel of the meet, striding into the semifinals of the 100m with victories in their heats. Gatlin upstaged the Jamaican with the top time in the first round, even though the American got a little push from nature with a strong back wind of 2.1 meters per second during his 9.83-second race. Bolt could count on an adoring crowd but faced a slight headwind as he cruised to a time of 9.96, the fifth fastest overall. Those results will mean nothing by Sunday’s semifinals and final, when the crowd at the Bird’s Nest will be hoping for a memorable head-to-head between the sport’s biggest star and the 33-year-old American who has not been beaten in two seasons after returning from a second doping ban. Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill held the lead in the heptathlon after four events with 4,005 points, 80 clear of British teammate Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Nadine Visser of the Netherlands was third overall with 3,871 points, and Brianne Theisen-Eaton of Canada, the top performer this year, was fourth with 3,865. — Agencies