Golden night for Britain in Barcelona

Published on Saturday 31 July 2010 14:00

MO FARAH last night completed a historic long-distance double on a night of triple gold for Britain at the European Championships in Barcelona.

• Jessica Ennis triumphed in the heptathlon. Pic: Getty

Farah, who won the 10,000m title on Tuesday, added the 5,000m last night to become the first British athlete to do the double and the first since Italy's Salvatore Antibo in 1990.

The Somalia-born 27-year-old took up the running with three laps to go and powered away from the field to win by almost two seconds from Spain's Jesus Espana, the man who denied him the title by just 0.09secs four years ago.

Farah's win - 10,000m silver medallist Chris Thompson was down in eighth place - took Britain's medal tally to 16 and completed a brilliant night which also saw Jessica Ennis and Dai Greene claim gold.

"It's hard to put it into words," said Farah. "It wasn't easy, I had to work hard for it. I can't believe I am a double champion. It feels fantastic.

"Four years ago I got beaten by nine hundredths of a second and I had that in my mind before the race. I was checking on the screen to see how far behind he (Jesus Espana] was. I was checking and checking to see if I had enough of a gap. I was hurting but I couldn't let him past me. As I crossed the line I couldn't believe I had finished first.

"He (Espana] said 'You are a great champion, to win the 10,000 and the 5,000 you are a great champion'. Over the years it's been me and him and he knows how hard I have worked. It's nice to see a sportsman congratulate me."

Ennis added the European heptathlon crown to the world title she won last year with a hard-fought victory over Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska of Ukraine, winning by just 45 points.

And Greene led Britain's second one-two of the championships, claiming victory in the 400 metres hurdles ahead of team-mate Rhys Williams.

Ennis led from start to finish over two gruelling days of competition, as she had done in Berlin last year, but this time was pushed all the way by Dobrynska.

The 24-year-old from Sheffield only had an 18-point lead (or cushion of around 1.3 seconds) going into the 800m, and Dobrynska briefly tried to wipe that out as she took the lead with 250m to go. But Ennis was having none of it and stormed to victory in two minutes 10.18 seconds. A time of 2:09.59 would have been enough to break the ten-year-old British record of 6,831 points held by former Olympic champion Denise Lewis, but she came up nine points short on 6,823 - still a new personal best and championship record.

"It's been a completely different experience this year.Having everyone pushing me all the way, close to my heels has been brilliant," Ennis said.

"I had to raise my game at every level today and yesterday so to come out on top is unbelievable. It would have been good to have broken the British record but before the 800 I just wanted to win. There's a lot of pressure and expectation, but I'm so happy with myself how I dealt with it."

Greene, 24, had earlier powered to a commanding victory in 48.12 seconds, a new personal best, with Williams claiming silver in 48.96secs, also a new personal best. Ukraine's Stanislav Melnykov took bronze.

The Welsh duo train together under legendary coach Malcolm Arnold and had been confident all week the medals were theirs for the taking. "It was like nothing I've ever experienced before, there are so many British and Welsh flags out there and there's great support, it really does make a difference," said Greene.

"It was pure relief (as I crossed the line], there was a lot of expectation and there's no better feeling than delivering on the day. I couldn't hold back the emotion, I just felt like breaking down in tears."

Williams declined to do a lap of honour, saying the moment belonged to Greene, and added: "I wanted to win and I'm not happy with the silver medal because my only objective was the gold.

"Four years ago I got the bronze, now the silver, but I want the gold in the next European Championships. Dai Greene is beatable, I will be back."

Michael Rimmer had earlier looked on course to become Britain's first European 800m champion for 20 years when he took over the lead in the final with around 250 metres to go. The 24-year-old from Southport battled bravely down the home straight but was finally overtaken by Poland's Marcin Lewandowski just metres from the line. Lewandowski clocked one minute 47.07 seconds with Rimmer just a tenth of a second behind, Poland's Adam Kszczot claiming the bronze.

A disappointed Rimmer said: "It's very, very tough. I don't know what more I could have done. Maybe I went a bit too soon, I don't know. I know for a fact I'm going to hate standing on that podium having to listen to someone else's anthem. I'll be gutted. Hopefully next time I'll be on top of it. I apologise to everyone who's watching but I gave it my best."

Mark Lewis-Francis accepted the blame as Britain's 4x100 metres relay team failed to reach the final due to a poor final baton change.