Mo Farah was unhappy after he won the 10,000m, while training partner Galen Rupp finished third in the 5000m, getting passed with 300 meters left at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., on Friday night.
Farah, the British Olympic and World 5000m and 10,000m champion, pulled away from Kenyans Paul Tanui and Geoffrey Kamworor in the last 100 meters to conclude the first of two days of action at the Diamond League meet at Hayward Field.
Farah clocked 26 minutes, 50.97 seconds, which was 4.40 seconds slower than his personal best from 2011. He won by .89 (race video here) but was discouraged with both the pacemaking and not having a pacemaker for the final half of the race.
“I wasn’t so happy,” Farah told media in Eugene. “With the pacemaking, it was tough to be able to just go alone all the way [the last 5,000m].”
Earlier, Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, 17, won the 5000m in 13:10.54, on the final lap passing Rupp, who was third in 13:12.36. Two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat, 40, was fourth in 13:14.97. Kejelcha, the World Junior champion, chopped 14.65 seconds off his personal best (race video here).
“It’s May, so I know what I need to do, gives me some good information moving forward the rest of the summer,” Rupp, whom Farah called his greatest challenger in the 10,000m, told media in Eugene. “I really wanted to see how I stacked up.”
U.S. champion Joe Kovacs won the shot put with a 22.12m throw, the farthest in the world this year. Kovacs, who also had the farthest throw in the world in 2014, defeated a field that included all three 2012 Olympic medalists.
Tianna Bartoletta, the U.S. 100m champion, won the long jump with a wind-aided 7.11m leap. Olympic and World champion Brittney Reese was fifth (6.69m).
The Prefontaine Classic concludes Saturday. NBCSN will have live coverage from 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET, followed by NBC from 4:30-6. NBC Sports Live Extra will stream the entire broadcast window. The full schedule and entry lists can be found here.
