Farah regains European title as Dasaolu and Porter shine
DOUBLE Olympic champion Mo Farah salvaged a crisis-ridden season by regaining his European 10,000m crown in Zurich last night as team-mates James Dasaolu and Tiffany Porter claimed their first major titles.
Farah clocked a winning time of 28 minutes and 8.12 seconds to take gold in his first track race of the season as fellow Briton Andy Vernon snatched silver with a late blitz ahead of Turkey’s Ali Kaya.
The 31-year-old now has nine medals in major championships, a tally which outstrips the likes of Daley Thompson, Jonathan Edwards and Linford Christie, and has the chance of another when he competes in the 5,000m on Sunday.
“It meant a lot to me,” said Farah. “Winning the European Championships again really does mean a lot to me.
“I didn’t want to let people down after missing the Commonwealth Games, it hasn’t been easy.”
Injury-plagued sprinter Dasaolu produced a mid-race surge to beat reigning champion Christophe Lemaitre in the 100m with a time of 10.06 seconds, with Harry Aikines-Aryeetey narrowly pipping Dwain Chambers to the podium.
“It’s a lovely feeling to be European Champion,” said Dasaolu. “I didn’t get a good start in the race but battled to win.
“Track and field always has its up and downs so it’s a lovely feeling to come away with a gold, my first senior medal.”
Commonwealth silver-medallist Porter snuffed out the challenge of France’s Cindy Billaud to win the women’s 100m hurdles in a time of 12.79 seconds and become the first British woman to win sprint hurdle gold at a European Championships.
“The true mark of an athlete is to perform when it matters most,” said the 26-year-old Porter.