European Athletics 2010: Brit Farah wins 10,000m gold

European Athletics Championships 2010
Venue: Barcelona Dates: 27 July - 1 August
Coverage: Watch live on BBC HD, BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Sport website (UK users only); Live coverage on BBC Radio 5 live; Highlights of the biggest events on demand online (UK only) Full details

Highlights - Farah storms to Euro gold

Mo Farah clinched Great Britain's first gold medal of the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona by storming to victory in the men's 10,000m.

Farah, 27, came home in a time of 28 minutes, 24.99 seconds, finishing ahead of fellow Brit Chris Thompson, who made it a GB one-two in the event.

The bronze went to Italy's Daniele Meucci who lost out to Thompson by a fraction of a second on the line.

It was GB's first-ever European 10,000m gold and Farah's first major title.

He had to settle for silver at the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg in the 5,000m, so gold in Barcelona represented redemption for the Somalia-born athlete.

TOM FORDYCE'S BLOG For both men, Tuesday night represented the culmination of two very different but equally tortuous sporting journeys

"To wait for four years after last time is not easy, I gave 100% then but got beaten by a better man," Farah told BBC Sport.

"This means so much to me. I had doubts in the winter when I thought it wasn't right, and I had collapsed after a race."

Farah battled with Spain's Ayad Lamdassem throughout but with two laps to go he took control of the race and sprinted to victory.

Lamdassem faded badly in the final lap and was caught by Thompson and Meucci with 100m to go.

Having passed the Spaniard, Thompson and Meucci were locked in a battle for silver. They crossed the line in the same time of 28:27.33, but a photo-finish revealed it was the British athlete who prevailed by 0.0002 of a second.

Thompson beat Farah to 5,000m gold in the European Under-23 Championship seven years ago, but has suffered badly with injuries since. He was understandably emotional when interviewed after the race.

Gold down to hard work - Farah

"Before the race it was a complete rollercoaster but this season has gone so well," Thompson told BBC Sport.

"With 10 laps to go I hit my first sticky patch of the year, but when this man [Mo] - who's the best long-distance runner we've ever had - went to the front I thought 'I have to get through it'.

"To finish second to this guy is an absolute honour. This is my gold medal right here."

London-based Farah added he was delighted to see months of training pay off in Barcelona.

"It's hard work," he said. "I've spent so much time away from my family, it's not easy.

"We [Farah and Thompson] were ranked one and two but its not easy to follow that, you have to work hard and use the right tactics. It's awesome.

"It's so great to see this man [Thompson] back. He's done so much and to win with him second is the best result I could have expected."

Earlier, Russian teenager Stanislav Yemelyanov took the first gold medal of the week with victory in the men's 20km walk.

Yemelyanov finished in a time of one hour, 20 minutes and 10 seconds with Italy's Alex Schwazer, Olympic champion in the 50km walk, 28 seconds behind. Portugal's Joao Vieira finished third, as he did four years ago.

And in the women's shot put, Nadzeya Ostapchuk and Natallia Mikhnevich made it a Belarus one-two after claiming gold and silver.

Ostapchuk's final throw of 20.48 earned victory with Russia's Anna Avdeyeva taking bronze.

Tuesday's timetable and results in full from European Athletics

Latest medal table