#3 | Male Athlete of 2015

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Mo Farah Rewrites World Championship History

Mo Farah proved once again that he can win a championship race under any tactical circumstance as the British athlete ran his way to his sixth and seventh straight global titles at the 2015 World Championships. FarahÂ’s three consecutive 5K titles are the most in World Championship history. 

The 32-year-old runner managed to win two completely different tactical races in Beijing last August, starting with a fast 10K victory. In an effort to out-pace the Olympic Champion, the Kenyan competition of Geoffrey Kamworor, Paul Tanui and Bedan Karoki executed a race plan that involved taking the pace out in a brisk 13:40 5K. The pace along with a late stumble with 350 meters to go proved to be no match for FarahÂ’s famous kick that led him to win the race in 27:01. In an exciting final lap, Farah threw own a 54-second 400m to take his second straight 10K World title.

“ItÂ’s great to win here tonight, to be able to back it up year after year, it hasnÂ’t been easy, but to stay on top year after year is pretty incredible,” Farah said following the victory. 

Less than a week after winning the 10K, Farah returned to take on the 5K final where a completely different race strategy was executed. The pace proved to be brutally slow until the last 1000m which Farah ran in 2:19 with a 1:48 final 800m. His final 400m was clocked in a blazing fast 52.67-seconds as he charged past Kenyan Caleb Ndiku in the final 100m leading into the finish line. The slow winning time of 13:50.38 was actually 10-seconds slower than the first 5K of the 10K final days earlier. 

“I was really pleased early on when the pace was so slow, I was quite pleased because at one point I thought it might be slow through the first K, and the last 4K where they wouldÂ’ve picked it upÂ…NdikuÂ’s a great athlete, heÂ’s a class athlete, heÂ’s still youngÂ…he definitely did test me,” Farah said after claiming his third consecutive 5K World title. 



FarahÂ’s World Championship performances along with the three personal bests run throughout the year (3K, two mile, half marathon) are poised to generate great momentum heading into the 2016 Olympic year.