Mo Farah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce secured dramatic doubles at the World Athletics Championships last night as Usain Bolt safely advanced to the final of the 200m in his bid for a third successive title.
Kenya’s Farah became only the second man to achieve the double of world and Olympics 5,000 and 10,000 metres titles.
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Farah, who won an emotional double gold at the Olympics last year in the Somalia-born athlete’s adopted home city of London, clocked 13min 26.98sec to
emulate Kenenisa Bekele’s double-double at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 Berlin worlds.
“It’s something I have worked very hard for. I was thinking about the kids and being away from them for so long,” said Farah, who trains under Alberto Salazar in Portland, Oregon.
Among the women, Jamaica’s Fraser-Pryce became only the third athlete to achieve the women’s world sprint double. The 26-year-old — who regained her 100m title on Monday — timed 22.17 seconds while 100m silver medalist Murielle Ahoure of Ivory Coast took another silver in a photo finish with Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare, both of whom timed 22.32.
Meanwhile, two-time defending champion Usain Bolt’s bid to seal a third successive world 200m title advanced smoothly as he coasted to victory in his semi-final in a comfortable 20.13sec.