Mo Farah told his Olympic rivals ‘bring it on in Rio’ as he stormed to 5,000m victory with a world leading time

MO FARAH told his Olympic rivals “bring it on in Rio” as he stormed to 5,000m victory with a world leading time.

Farah posted 12:59.29 at the Anniversary Games today, back at the Olympic Stadium where he memorably won the distance double at London 2012.

For the last four laps it was just himself against the clock as he cut a lone figure out in front of the rest of the field determined to beat the best time in the world this year of 12:59.43 set by Ethiopian Muktar Edris back in May.

It was his final outing before he defends his Olympic 10,000m and 5,000m crowns at the Rio Games which kick off on August 5 and Kenyan coach Julius Kirwa last week baited Farah claiming his athletes had been training like an army squadron to finally take on the Brit as a team.

But Farah insisted: “Let’s bring it. I just wanted to go for it as it was my daughter Rhianna’s birthday on Friday. It was my last chance to run quick before Rio. I love this track and it means a lot to me. Rio is right around the corner so it means a lot to get the win before going into the Olympics.

“I’m in good shape but I have to keep my feet on the ground. Anything can happen in two and a half weeks, it’s all about staying patient and cool now. This is my best form heading into a major championships.”

Farah, who flies out to his training base in the French Pyrenees tomorrow said: “I’ve got another two to three key sessions out there and then it’s Rio.”

He will face the formidable trio of Paul Tanui, Bedan Karoki and Geoffrey Kamworor over 10,000m in Brazil. Farah took bronze behind Kamworor when he won at the World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff earlier this year and afterwards predicted he would be the biggest obstacle to him retaining the 10,000m title he won on Super Saturday in London four years ago.

Kenyan coach Kirwa has switched Japan-based Charles Yossei, who was second in the 10,000m at his country’s Olympic trials to the 5,000m, where he joins Commonwealth Games winner Caleb Mwangangi and Isaiah Kiplangat, who finished third behind Farah at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

Farah, 33, is bidding to become only the second man in history after Lasse Viren to retain two Olympic distance titles.

European champion Martyn Rooney astonishingly false-started in the 400m showdown at the Anniversary Games and was disqualified leaving team-mate Matt Hudson-Smith to steal a solid victory in 45.05secs. Rooney later apologised to family and fans saying: “A false start in the 400m is unacceptable.”

Andy Pozzi set a personal best of 13.19secs in the 110m hurdles heats – the fourth faestet time ever posted by a Brit but then had to pull out of the final after suffering cramp in the warm-up. Pozzi suffered an injury nightmare at the Olympic Stadium in his opening heat at London 2012 which wrecked his chances of getting on the podium.

But there was a world leading time of 37.78secs for the 4x100m relay quartet of James Dasaolu, Adam Gemili, James Ellington and CJ Ujah as they bid to hold on to the baton in Rio and grab a place on the podium.

The British team won European 4x100m gold in Amsterdam two weeks ago – a year after a public bust-up when yet another baton bounder cost them a medal at the World Championships in Beijing.
Gemili, who believes they are now even capable of taking on Jamaica and America and following in the footsteps of the British team who won 4x100m gold at Athens in 2004, said: “W’re looking to run even faster than that. We believe we’ve got the speed and hopefully when Rio comes we can push the other guys in the world.

“We sat down together and said if we get the baton round we’ve got a really good chance of challenging for a gold medal. We’re not there to fill the lane and finish behind America and Jamaica. We want to be the best, just like the guys in 2004 who showed it’s possible.”

* Earlier in the Olympic Stadium two world records fell at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final as home favourites Richard Whitehead and Libby Clegg stormed into the history books.

Paralympic champion Whitehead smashed his own 200m T42 world record for the second time in two weeks, clocking 23.03secs.

Clegg – racing in only her third 200m ever with new guide Chris Clarke, and her first 200m with a blindfold, knocked a phenomenal 0.23 seconds off the 200m T11 world record set by Brazil’s Terezinha Guilhermina four years ago as she stormed to the line in 24.44secs.