• Athletics

Farah encourages with 5000m win

ESPN staff
June 2, 2012
Mo Farah grabbed an important win © PA Photos
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Mo Farah kicked off his serious preparations for London 2012 with an encouraging 5000 metres victory against a high-quality field in Eugene on Saturday.

Farah, the reigning world champion, ran his second fastest time over the distance to defeat rival Kenenisa Bekele at the Diamond League meeting, with his mark of 12 minutes 56.98 seconds just four seconds off his own British record.

Bekele was well off the pace as Kenya's Isaiah Kiplangat Koech came second and Galen Rupp, Farah's regular training partner, pushed him down to fourth.

Elsewhere, there was a noteworthy performance from 110m hurdler Liu Xiang as he equalled Dayron Robles' world record of 12.87s. However, the time will not officially be recorded in the record books due to the helping wind that assisted the Chinese.

In the 100m, Justin Gatlin won in a time of 9.90s as he builds up to challenging Usain Bolt in London this summer.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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