27th July 2010

Farah And Thompson Joy

 

27 July 2010

The Aviva GB&NI team opened their medal account on the first evening session at the European Championships in Barcelona with Mo Farah and Chris Thompson claiming gold and silver respectively in the men’s 10,000m final.

Following their exploits over the same distance earlier in the summer, where the two vied with each other for supremacy in the all-time lists, Farah (Ricky Simms) and Thompson (Mark Rowland/John Nuttall) were tipped going into tonight’s final as potential medallists, but it seemed perhaps a wish too far to see the endurance pair and long time friends and rivals both reach the podium.

As it was it looked to be a race that would play into the hands of the Spanish contingent with a slow opening 5km and the likelihood of a mass sprint finish.

Yet, the field quickly broke apart as both Farah and Thompson took on the pace work during the second half and with two laps to go Farah was away with Spain’s Ayad Lamdassem, leaving just the two likely to battle it out for the title.

Thompson, sitting in third led the second group of three, with Italian Daniele Meucci looking to be most likely to challenge him for the bronze medal position.

Yet on the final lap it was all glorious change with Farah not only galloping away from his Spanish rival, but Thompson – in sprinting towards an expected bronze – began to gain on the failing gold challenge of Lamdassem.

In the thrilling final few seconds not only did Farah take the gold, but Thompson passed Lamdassem and held off the fast finishing Meucci to take the silver and make it the most ultimate of memorable nights for the Aviva GB and NI team and British supporters in the crowd.

The pair were ecstatic for both themselves and each other – having been teammates since their junior days and Thompson pipping Farah for the European U23 5000m title back in 2003.

Earlier in the evening, the team had enjoyed seeing further athletes progress to their respective semis and finals as the 100m, women’s 800m, plus the men’s triple jump and high jump played out.

 

In the 100m Dwain Chambers (Daniel Plummer) made short work of his first round heat against Frenchman Ronald Pognon with an easy looking win in 10.21. Drawn in lane one, he set about his evening’s work with ease, powering away from the field then appearing to spend the second half of the race easing down.

It was an impressive display by the Brit, who has endured a pressure build up to the championships and declared as the favourite for the 100m title by the other competitors.

“It was comfortable but a bit nerve racking. I don’t think about the track, I just concentrate on the gun,” he said.

“I do feel the pressure before a race but when I get onto the track that just clears out of my head and I get on.”

 

In the fifth heat, Mark Lewis Francis (Linford Christie) put pressure on the impressive young Christian Lemaitre, pushing the French youngster – who is regarded as joint favourite with Chambers  - all the way to the line. Lewis-Francis, who has enjoyed a welcome return to form this season and was a late addition to the 100m line up, more than justified his place with a strong second place and a 10.23 time that was just two-one hundredths short of his season’s best; Lemaitre leading the first round qualifying overall with his 10.19 for first.

“First round first run, I’m already excited for the next one,” said a delighted Lewis-Francis.

“Thank god that I’m here. I’m so glad to be back in the mix again. Lemaitre pushed me all the way, no doubt it was good to have him here.”

 

James Dasaolu (Michael Khmel), running in the fourth of the five heats, also made sure of automatic progression with a third place and 10.40 time, but knew he would have to improve to make it past the next round:

“I don’t think I got the best of starts, the main thing though is that I’m through to the semis,” he reasoned straight after.

“There has to be more to come because that run wasn’t really cutting it. It wasn’t good enough to make the final.”

 

Tom Parsons (Fuzz Ahmed) and Martyn Bernard (Dan Pfaff) had an evening of mixed fortunes in the high jump but the end result was positive with both progressing to Thursday night’s final.

Parsons, enjoyed a fault free progression through to 2.23m with first time clearances at 2.15m, 2.19m and 2.23m, but endured three failures at 2.26m and was forced to play the waiting game as the competition continued.

Meanwhile, Bernard had a failure at 2.19m, plus two at 2.23m, before clearing 2.26m at his second attempt to demonstrate the range of exchanging fortunes that can be a championship high jump competition. As it was, the pair qualified in seventh and tenth position out of the 12 finalists, but both reflected with disappointment on their evening’s work.

“That was rubbish,” said Parsons.

“It felt so easy at first and I felt 2.28m would come easily as the first few jumps were great. Then I just got it wrong, perhaps I didn’t attack as well as I could.

“The fast surface makes you feel so good but then you tend to bound a bit in your run up which knocks your rhythm. Hopefully I’ll have more tone in my legs for the final.”

Bernard said: “It was stressful! I was looking round at Tom clearing on his first attempts. But I’m through which is the main thing but I took too many jumps to get there.”