Mo Farah has revealed that his heated rows with fellow British athlete Andy Vernon, played out on Twitter and then in the media, spurred him on to break his first world record.
Farah, who was competing over two miles at the Birmingham indoor grand prix, took the lead with six laps to go before running 57 seconds for the final 400m to win in 8min 3.40sec – nearly a second faster than Kenenisa Bekele’s old world record. Afterwards, Farah admitted that the events of the past week – which started on Tuesday, when Vernon tweeted that he ran against “joke” fields in Britain, and flared up again on Friday, when Farah accused Vernon of questioning his nationality when the pair won 10,000m gold and silver at last year’s European Championships – had made him more determined to break the record.
“It inspired me,” said Farah. “Whatever’s happened has happened, we’ve got to move on, but at the same time I’m an athlete; that’s what I do best.”
Despite winning Olympic golds in the 5,000m and 10,000m at London 2012, and three world championship titles, Farah had never broken a world record. While the two-mile mark is not classed as a championship record by the IAAF because it is run so rarely, the 31-year‑old was delighted at his performance.
“People have been saying: ‘When are you going to break a world record?’ So it was nice to do it in the UK,” said Farah. “It was very special. I love representing my country and giving something back to all the people.”
Such a performance, in his first race of the season, clearly bodes well for Farah’s attempt at more glory in the world championships in August. However, he was guarded when asked whether it was also possible to make a serious assault on the world 5,000m and 10,000m records, held by Bekele later this year.
“I shouldn’t get carried away – it’s only two miles indoor, but at the same time it would be nice to be able to see what I can do for 10,000m outdoors and see if I can go close, or break it,” he said. “It’s difficult, but you never know.”
Vernon tweeted his praise for Farah’s performance, saying: “Everything aside, that was a cracking run. Congratulations on the new world record.” However, Farah suggested that the chances of the pair sitting down to settle their differences was unlikely. “I don’t know,” he said.“I think it’s too soon to say anything right now. I’ve moved on and put that behind me.”
