IAAF World Championships: Mo Farah clinches gold in 10,000m, hails it greatest career victory

Great Britain's Mo Farah put up a scintillating display of endurance and stamina long distance running to capture his 10th world championship gold medal and send a packed crowd at the London Stadium into frenzy. It wasn’t a walk in the park for Farah as he was given a stiff challenge from brilliant young Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei and retain his 10,000m title.

“Yeah, it was my greatest performance ever,” he conceded. “And one of the toughest races of my life. The guys gave it to me – it was about, ‘How do we beat Mo?’

“I am hurt,” he said. “I just had to be strong now and two doctors are going to look at me. I’ve got a few cuts and bruises but just recover and get ready for the 5,000m. I’ve got enough days.”

 Farah also paid tribute to the capacity crowd, who urged him on to victory just like they had done on Super Saturday, exactly five years ago. “The environment’s incredible,” he said. “There’s no place like London. There’s no place like home. I love London. I love the people.

“You had the Kenyans, you had the Ethiopians, you had the Ugandans, everybody worked as a team against me,” he added. “But fair play to them. They worked their hardest and they chucked everything at me. I just had to stay strong, believe in myself and think, ‘I didn’t work for nothing. I’m losing in my home town. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.’”

At some point, halfway through the race, Farah admitted he was clinging on.

“I wasn’t thinking I was going to lose, but I thought, ‘This is tough. This is tough.’” The race was also wild and stormy, and several times Farah was spiked by his opponents’ shoes and nearly stumbled on the last lap. “That trip caught me a little bit on my leg and I got a few cuts,” he said. “But I just had to be strong. I didn’t want to go down and I had to fight and be strong.