Atheltics Weekly

IAAF WORLD CHAMPS 2017
CAN MO DO THE
WORLD TRIPLE?
WINNING SIX WORLD TITLES AT 5000m AND 10,000m AN UNPRECEDENTED FEAT
FARAH TO WIN AND CEMENT TRACK LEGACY
5000m
MO FARAH goes for a fourth
world and sixth successive
global victory over 12.5 laps.
While he has not looked
maybe at his very, very best, he
won in Eugene in a then world
lead 13:00.70 and has won
all four of his summer races at
distances of 3000m and over
without too much difficulty.
As ever, Farah will be
contesting the event after a
10,000m final and while the
opposition is good, it is hard
to see who is going to take
the race to Farah and who is
MO FARAH has not lost a
10,000m race since being
passed in the last 30 metres of
the 2011 World Championships
and since then has won four
global 25-lap titles.
His last foray at the distance
will surely be a winning one
and only a fall, as in Rio,
should endanger him.
Unless the race is a flat out
pace from the start, it is hard
to see anyone unsettling the
Briton.
The most accomplished
competitor is Geoffrey
Kamworor, who has won four
world titles on road and country
but has lost his four previous
meetings to Farah at 10,000m.
He followed Farah home in
2015 but was only 11th in Rio.
Paul Tanui has raced Farah
six times over 25 laps and
the Olympic silver medallist has
lost every race but has also
medalled in the last two Worlds
and is consistent.
Bedan Muchiri was third
in the London Marathon and
capable of passing him once he
has settled into his familiar final
kilometre wind-up.
World-leader Muktar Edris
has never been a threat to
Farah previously and was
disqualified in Rio, but looks an
improved athlete with a strong
finish based on his Paris and
Lausanne wins.
Yomif Kejelcha and Selemon
Barega complete a hot
Ethiopian trio though Kejelcha
has not won a race in 2017 and
world youth, junior champion
Barega is only 17-years-old,
and so this will surely be too
early for him.
ZERO DEFEATS OVER 25 LAPS SINCE DAEGU
10,000m
Event statistics
World record: 26:17.53 Kenenisa
Bekele (ETH)
Champs record: 26:46.31 Bekele
(ETH)
Defending champion: Mo Farah
(GBR)
British interest: Farah
AW prediction: 1 Farah; 2 Kamworor
(KEN); 3 Hadis (ETH)
History: Farah goes for his third title
but he will still be one short of Haile
Gebrselassie and Bekele who won
it four times each. Gebrselassie also
won a silver and a bronze.
Mo Farah and
Andrew Butchart:
will they similarly
lead in London?
Mo Farah:
unbeaten for
six years at
the distance
certainly doesn’t look to have
the pace to worry the Brit
but may be employed as a
pacesetter for Kamworor and
Tanui who would benefit from a
flat-out run from the start.
3 2 A T H L E T I C S W E E K L Y