Mo Farah Breaks Two-Mile World Record

The greatest distance runner on the planet made his 2015 debut in thrilling fashion on Saturday in Birmingham, breaking Kenenisa Bekele’s indoor two-mile world record in 8:03.40. Farah stayed patient through the opening mile, clocking a conservative 4:05 (haha conservative) before putting the pedal to the floor over the final eight laps. The Olympic and World champion split 3:58 to close out his record, utterly obliterating the field that included Bernard Lagat (8:17), who himself smashed the master’s world record in the event. 

 

The stunning performance concluded an eventful week for the 31-year-old, as Farah was involved in a Twitter spat with countryman Andy Vernon, who accused Farah of dodging competition. Farah shot back, calling Vernon “an embarrassment”, and stating that “Taylor swift can probably run faster than you!”, after Vernon quipped about the pop star. 

 

Farah later apologized to the public for the comments he made regarding Vernon. “To be honest with you, I reacted…my reaction got the best of me- 100%. I apologize and we’ve got to move on,” Farah told BBC Radio. 

 

While Farah expressed his regret, it seems that his running was more than sufficient in doing the talking for him. Nothing will quiet a critic more than doing something than no one has ever done before. Well done, Mo. 

 

DMR Madness

We traveled out to South Bend, Indiana for the annual distance relay carnival that is the Alex Wilson Invitational, and saw the Arkansas men and Baylor women come away with big wins and the all-important NCAA qualifying marks that they so desired.

 

The Razorbacks ran in Heat 2 at Notre Dame, which appeared to be the lesser of the two on paper, yet the Hogs were able to get the job done, running 9:28.37, fourth best in 2015. 5th year senior Kemoy Campbell closed hard to a 3:57 split, proving that this team can contend next month in Fayetteville for the win and a precious ten points for their title hopes. 

 

Other men’s teams that dipped under 9:30 in South Bend were Stanford and Alabama. The Cardinal and Crimson Tide are securely in the top 12, while fellow Alex Wilson participants Iowa State and Virginia cannot feel entirely comfortable sitting in 10th and 11th heading into conference weekend. The Cyclones and Cavaliers will have to choose between going after it again at conference this weekend, or biting their nails hoping that no one else jumps ahead of them.

 

Two teams that were absent at Notre Dame, but still earned a trip to Fayetteville were Virginia Tech and Duke. The Hokies and Blue Devils ran 9:36.56 and 9:37.01, respectively, at the UCS Invitational at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, but those times were converted down to 9:28.84 and 9:29.28 due to the flat-200m oval conversions. Like it or not, these squads are heading to NCAAs. 

 

The Baylor women had the most impressive performance of any relay team at Alex Wilson. The Bears lowered their DMR time from 11:09 to 10:58.52 on Saturday, a school record and currently the #2 mark on 2015. The team from Waco has exploded to the top of the NCAA due in large part to the emergence of 800m leg Olicia Williams (#2 NCAA 800 2:03.21) and anchor Maggie Montoya (#15 NCAA 3k 9:08.91). 

 

The women’s field proved to be much deeper at Alex Wilson compared to the men. In addition to Baylor, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Purdue all jumped into the top 12 in the descending order list after their performances in Notre Dame. Only the Boilermakers are not assured of an NCAA bid, as they are currently the last team in with conference weekend looming. 

 

 

Genzebe Dibaba Breaks 5,000m World Record

Not to be outdone by the Mo-Bot, 24-year-old Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia set her fourth career World record on Thursday in Stockholm, running 14:18.86 to smash Meseret Defar’s old mark of 14:24.37 from 2009. Dibaba breezed through the race alone, beating 2nd place finisher Birtukan Fente by more than a minute. 

 

In 2014, Dibaba set records in the 1500m (3:55.17), 3,000m (8:16.60), and two-mile (9:00.48). The Ethiopian will undoubtably be the favorite in the 5,000m at the World Championships in August. 

 

Tokyo Marathon

Ethiopia swept the men’s and women’s races at the Tokyo Marathon, with 26-year-old Endeshaw Negesse winning the men’s event in 2:06:00 over Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich and defending Tokyo champion Dickson Chumba.

 

21-year-old Birhane Dibaba won the women’s race in 2:23.15 over Kenyan Helah Kiprop in 2:24.03. 

 

Mutaz Essa Barshim Jumps High…Again

23-year-old Mutaz Essa Barshim can’t be stopped right now in the high jump, leaping to another Asian record at the AIT Grand Prix in Ireland, this time reaching 2.41m and taking three cracks at 2.44m before falling short of a new world record. If you missed Barshim's ascent to the rafters in Westmeath, here it is for your viewing pleasure: Barshim Jumps 2.41m  In Ireland!