by Larry Eder
Mo Farah winning 10,000 meters, photo by PhotoRun.net
In all seriousness, I felt bad for both Usain Bolt and the young man who slipped and fell on the Segway. I had never seen one on the track before (I did see a couple of nimrods riding them around town.). I learnt, after my tweet , that Segways help cameramen keep their cameras balanced and provide some of the cool shots, I now understand their value.
But still, I have to use it.
Short of knocking Mo Farah over with a sneaky Segway, few are going to beat him over 5000 meters or 10,000 meters.
Mo Farah is at the top of his game.
One of the most
Neither marathon, nor media carnivals seem to diminish his racing skills.
Yet, most of the world’s elites think that if they can only, off a slow pace, take him on, they can win! Excuse me, are they delusional?
In the 10,000 meters earlier this week, three of Kenya’s best tried to break him, and they came close, if they only had truly worked together. Don’t believe me? Look at the pace: a 63 second lap, then a 68 lap, a 62 then followed by 68 second lap. Mo Farah would catch his breath everytime the pace slowed down or pick up. Over the last kilometers, where Mo Farah does most of his damage, the pace was, again, up and down. Mo threw in a 52.4 last lap, after having nearly fallen down twice in the last lap, and he finally broke Geoffrey Kamworor in the last 100 meters.
In the 5000 meters tonight, the pace was, well dawdling… the first kilometer was 3:02.04, the second kilometer was 5:58.13. In that pedestrian pace, Ben True, Galen Rupp and Ryan Hill were all three. Mo Farah was at the back of the pack, staying out of trouble. And Caleb Ndiku was, mid pack.
The pace continued to be slow, as the 3000m was passed in 8:47.29, and it was not until 4000 meters that the race got interesting.
4000m was hit in 11:31.16. Hagos Gebrhewit, Imane Merga were there with Galen Rupp, Ben True, Mo Farah, when Caled Ndiku, at 12 minutes into the race, took off! That lap was run in 58 with Caleb Ndiku upping the pace and taking his swing at Mo Farah.
The pace quickened, and the final lap was run in just about high 53 seconds, as Caleb Ndiku put up his best moves, trying to break Mo Farah.
At about the 4800 meters, Caleb Ndiku put in his final move, and I was not sure if Mo Farah could do it. But I did not figure on Mo.
Mo Farah likes to win, and the 5000 meter is his turf.
On the final stretch, Mo Farah used that closing speed and just took Caleb Ndiku to the line, with Ndiku in the silver postion and Hagos Gebrhewit, who defeated Mo Farah in May over 3000 meters, took the bronze.
Galen Rupp, Ben True and Ryan Hill were all there, just not in the final battle, but their fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, were some of the best positions by Americans in some time.
So, in the meantime, want to beat Mo Farah? Well, take him out hard and keep the race hard. Letting him take a nap for four kilometers has not seemed to work for some six years now…
