Mo Farah broke the world record for the one-hour run, covering 21,330 meters at the Brussels Diamond League on Friday. It was Farah’s first outdoor world record of his career and his first race on the track since the Diamond League Final in 2017. 

At the halfway point, Farah and his training partner, Bashir Abdi were just off the pace required to better Haile Gebrselassie’s record of 21,285 meters. But by the 46-minute mark, the duo were back on schedule. 

As they passed 19,600 meters, with 55-minutes on the clock, Abdi moved to the front, putting pressure on the 10-time gold medalist. Farah remained in second until the final minute, when he unleashed his patented kick to break away. Though he finished second, Abdi did break Gebrselassie's 20,000m world record, running 56:20.02.

Sifan Hassan used a similar strategy to break the world record in the women’s race.  As expected, the race developed into a duel between Hassan and marathon world record holder, Brigid Kosgei. When the gun was fired signifying one minute remaining, Hassan started to kick. Kosgei was initially able to stick with her, but Hassan opened up an insurmountable margin as the final seconds ticked away. Hassan’s finishing distance of 18,930 was well ahead of the existing world record of 18,571.  Kosgei ran 18,904 meters, but was later disqualified for lane infringement. Cameras caught Kosgei momentarily lose her balance and step on the top of the rail.  

In the pole vault, Mondo Duplantis again cleared six meters and continued his undefeated season. Duplantis opened the competition with a successful first attempt at 5.50 meters and followed that up with jumps of 5.70m, 5.80m and 6.00m. He then moved the bar up to 6.15m, one centimeter better than Sergey Bubka’s outdoor world record. But Duplantis couldn’t clear any of his three attempts and had to settle for his 13th win of 2020.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen easily won the men’s 1500m, running 3:30.69 to beat the rest of the field by almost four seconds. Three pacemakers pulled Ingebrigtsen away from the pack in the early stages. After a quick first lap, Ingebrigtsen crossed 800 meters in 1:51 and hit the bell in 2:48. He ran the final 400 completely by himself, with only the pacing lights alongside the track as company. Jesus Gomez of Spain ran 3:34.64 for second place. 

For the second consecutive meet, Faith Kipyegon came up just short of the world record in the women’s 1000m. With the target of 2:28.98, Kipyegon followed the rabbit through a first 400m of 58.94. Kipyegon slowed in the second lap and crossed 800m in 1:59.19. She wasn’t able to get back on pace in the final 200m and finished in 2:29.92. Esther Guerrero ran 2:35.64 to finish second.