06 September,2020 10:32 AM IST | | AFP
Britain's Mo Farah celebrates his world record victory at the King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, on Friday. PIC/AFP
Mo Farah blitzed to a new world record in the rarely-run one-hour event on his return to the track on Friday at an empty Brussels stadium that also saw Sifan Hassan set a new best in the women's equivalent race. Three years after having opted for road running, Farah showed no sign of cobwebs as he ran 21.330 kilometres over the 60 minutes behind closed doors at the Brussels Diamond League meet.
Farah, who won 5,000-10,000m doubles for Britain at both the London and Rio Olympics, bettered Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie's previous best of 21.285km, set back in 2007, by 45 metres. "What an amazing way to do it and show people what is possible," said Farah. It was a formidable record: the equivalent of 52-and-a-half laps at an average of 67 seconds per lap, or 2:47min per kilometre.
While Farah holds every British record for all events between the 1,500m and marathon, it was his first ever world record. Ethiopian-born Dutch runner Hassan smashed the women's world record. Hassan, the reigning world 1,500 and 10,000m champion, produced a thrilling kick over the final minute to see off Kenya's world marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei (who was later disqualified) and notch up 18.930km.
Hassan's final distance added 413m - more than a lap - to the previous record of 18.517km set by Ethiopian Dire Tune Arissi in 2008.
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