Mo Farah brought his spectacular season to an end with another brilliant performance on Sunday when he won the Great North Run.
Great Britain’s Farah triumphed in a personal best 59:22 as once again he demonstrated how unbeatable he is in the final stages of a race.
Farah was locked in a superb duel with Kenya’s Stanley Biwott and the pair were together as they made the home turn onto the coastal road of South Shields in the north east of England in a half-marathon that started in Newcastle.
Biwott, the 2012 Paris marathon champion, was in front but Farah was on his shoulder, eventually moving ahead with the finish line in sight to win by two seconds.
'I am just delighted to finish my season this way,' said Farah, who eclipsed his quickest time by 10 seconds. 'I began the season with a world best for two miles, I won the gold medals at the world championships (in the 5000m and 10,000m) and I have ended with my best time for a half-marathon. I could not have asked for a better year.'
Farah became the first man to defend this title since the late Benson Maya in 1992 and he will now begin his plans for the Olympics in Rio.
Belgium’s Bashir Abdi (1:02:06) was the next best European in sixth, while Britain’s Gemma Steel (1:11:52) and Latvia’s Jelena Prokopcuka (also, 1:11:52) were second and third respectively in the women’s race as Kenya’s Mary Keitany won (1:07:32).
Hamann leads German success
Lars Hamann broke the meeting record as he won the javelin in Rieti on Sunday with a throw of 84.26m on a good day for German athletics.
Hamann beat Japan’s Ryoheu Arai (84.13m) and Estonia’s Tarel Laanmae (82.93m) and there was more success for the country in the pole vault as Lisa Ryzih’s second attempt at 4.35m brought her victory on countback from Russia’s Olga Mullina.
In the 800m, Poland’s Adam Kszczot (1:44.82) maintained his superb run of form as he won ahead of Qatar’s Musaeb Balla (1:45.13) while Norway’s Isabelle Pedersen (12.99) won the 100m hurdles and Ukraine’s Krystyna Hryshutyna (6.42m) took the long jump.
The 20th throwing meeting in Bad Kostritz saw Germany keep up their winning ways as double European champion David Storl triumphed (21.37m) in the men’s shot put from New Zealand’s Tom Walsh (21.25m) and Jamaica’s O´Dayne Richards (20.61m).
In women’s event, Storl’s teammate Christina Schwanitz (19.77m) beat American Tia Brooks (19.00m), Nadine Mulller won the discus (63.96m) and Thomas Rohler (85.22m) was first in the javelin.
Shubenkov beats Martinot-Lagarde
The Charlety Stadium in Paris staged the Decanation which saw a series of good duels and wins for European athletes.
Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov, fresh from his world championship glory, beat his great French rival Pascal Martinot-Lagarde 13.20 to 13.27 in the 110m hurdles and France’s Jimmy Vicaut (10.06) won the 100m ahead of American Mike Rodgers (10.09).
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Renaud Lavillenie (5.60m) - who also ran leg two of the 100m-200m-300m-400m relay - had to settle for second in the pole vault as the USA’s Sam Kendricks (5.70m) won and Ukraine’s one victory came in the 800m through Natalia Lupu (2:01.96).
The USA took the title (131.5 points) from Russia (120.5) and France (86).
Tero Pitkämäki and Abeba Aregawi were among the winners in the traditional Sweden-Finland duel in Stockholm.
Sweden’s men won their match - 231 to 179 - while Finland’s women took theirs, 213.5 to 193.5.
Pitkämäki’s 84.42m brought him victory in the javelin and Aregawi (4:13.62) won the 1500m. Among the other results, Sweden’s Tom Kling Baptiste was first in the men’s 200m (20.92) and Finland’s Hanna-Mari Latvala (23.86) triumphed in the women’s race.
There are 36 European meetings this week, with full details at www.european-athletics.org/calendar