Mo Pipped At The Post

28 AUG2011

Mo Farah failed to hold off the last gasp challenge of Ibrahim Jeilan and had to settle for World Championship silver in the 10,000 metres at Daegu earlier today. The 28 year old British distance star kicked for home with one lap to go and looked as if he had taken a decisive advantage but the Ethopian Jelain refused to give in and produced a courageous finish to sprint ahead of Farah in the home straight.

A thrilling race had hundreds of thousands of occasional 10k runners in the UK on the edge of their seats as they watched TV coverage from South Korea. Farah's many fans were encouraged as Mo ran comfortably in the early stages posting even lap times and letting the Ethiopians and Kenyans slug it out with Eritrean Zersenay Tedese at the front.

The field went through half-way in 13:52, and soon after reigning world champion Kenenisa Bekele dropped out. 10 runners had by now broken away with Farah at the rear of that group.

After 7K Farah upped his pace and moved into fourth place with his American training partner Galen Rupp in his slipstream. It was now just a question of when Farah would make his move. That came with just 400 metres to go and although Farah looked impressive as he strode to the front, he didn't have enough power to kill off Jeilan who stayed with the British hope and wore him down in the last 50 metres.

The winning time was 27:13.81 with Farah clocking 27:14.7.

Mo Farah will now consult with coach Alberto Salazar before deciding whether to compete in the 5,000m event later in the week.