By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2017 Race Results Weekly, used with subscription

LONDON (04-Aug) -- With the deafening roar of over 60,000 spectators as a backdrop, Britain's Mo Farah delivered the goods at London Stadium yet again, beating back a concerted challenge from Africa's best to win his third straight world 10,000m title in 26:49.51, easily the fastest of his three victories. Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei and Kenya's Paul Tanui won the silver and the bronze medals in 26:49.94 and 26:50.60, respectively.

"It was one of the toughest races of my life," Farah told reporters. He continued: "They tried everything and I just had to stay strong."

The race got off to a blistering start, with the 20 year-old Cheptegei working with Kenya's Geoffrey Kamworor, the 2015 silver medalist in this discipline, to clock a 61-second opening lap which turned into a 2:39.48 first kilometer. Cheptegei, Kamworor, Tanui and Uganda's Moses Kurong worked together to keep the pace high.

"Of course for me the opening lap was not a problem," said Cheptegei. "I thought I was going, like, 65 (seconds), but (it was faster).

Farah, always a savvy racer, stayed well back from the lead. At two kilometers, he was only in 20th place. Surges came and went, but Farah didn't move up to the front group until about four kilometers into the race when he slipped into third place. The crowd roared with approval.

It was not until there were 14 laps to go in the 25-lap race when the first big attack occurred. Kenya's Bedan Karoki surged on the backstretch with Kamworor and Tanui, and with 13 laps to go the Kenyans were running 1-2-3 and were trying to control the race. Tanui, the bronze medalist at these championships in both 2013 and 2015, was surprised that the pace hadn't slowed down.

"It was really very fast today," said Tanui. "We really didn't expect to run under 27 minutes."

There were more surges by Eritrea's Aron Kifle and Ethiopia's Abadi Hadis, but through seven kilometers (19:02.18) the pace sagged to 65 seconds. Farah, running in fourth position, was fully committed now to winning. He couldn't let the fans down, he said. Not here. Not tonight.

"I can't lose in my hometown," Farah said, getting emotional. "I can't, I can't." He continued: "There's no place like London. I love the people."

With four laps to go, Farah went to the lead and the stadium began to shake. But soon Hadis attacked and took over the lead and Kamworor and Tanui covered the Ethiopian's move. Farah steadied himself, and waited for a lap and a half to go before launching his own attack. Hadis, Tanui and Kamworor were right with him as he charged into the homestretch, and it looked like Farah would run away with the title.

But with about 300 meters to go, Farah tangled briefly with Tanui, stepped into the infield, and his momentum was halted.

"That caught me a little bit, my leg," Farah said. "I just had to be strong; didn't want to go down, didn't want to go down, and had to fight."

Flying down the backstretch, Tanui and Cheptegei gave it their all to catch Farah, but they simply couldn't do it.

"It was really very hard," Tanui lamented. He added: "I had nothing left."

Farah turned a 55.7-second last lap to lock in the win.

"I owe it to the people of London," Farah said turning serious. "I owe it to the people of Great Britain, and the nation behind me."

Down the finish order the first seven men broke 27 minutes, the deepest results ever at these championships. Twelve men set personal bests, and national records were set by Canada's Mo Ahmed (27:02.35) and Bahrain's Abraham Cheroben (27:11.08).

"The last lap was brutal," said Ahmed.