Mo Farah closes out indoor track career by setting new European record at British Grand Prix

Birmingham: Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah marked his final race indoors by winning the 5,000 metres at the Birmingham Grand Prix on Saturday in a new European record time of 13 minutes 9.16 seconds. The 33-year-old British distance great, who won gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games, plans to retire from all track events to concentrate on road-racing after the World Championships in London in August. [caption id=“attachment_3290888” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Mo Farah wins the 5000m final during the indoor athletics Grand Prix in Birmingham. AFP[/caption] In Birmingham, he was run close by Bahrain’s Albert Rop, who managed to stay with Farah after he burst clear from the rest of the field before being beaten in a sprint finish. “I had amazing support from the crowd today and I can’t quite believe it’s my last indoor race,” Farah told the BBC after improving his own record for the event. “I’ve had a great career indoors and particularly on this track,” added Farah, who finished a disappointing seventh at last month’s Edinburgh cross-country. “I knew I needed to do some work after Edinburgh, I had to leave my family but hard work pays off.” In other events, Britain’s Andrew Pozzi ran a new personal best and world leading time of 7.43 seconds in the 60m hurdles, with the United States’ Aries Merritt, the 110m hurdles word record-holder third. Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson, the reigning Olympic 100m and 200m champion, won the women’s 60m in 6.98 seconds – the eighth-fastest time ever. The women’s 1,000 metres saw Britain’s Laura Muir just miss out on a world record as she won in two minutes 31.93 seconds. Muir’s time was just a second off Maria Mutola’s world indoor record of 2:30.94. However, the 23-year-old Scot’s time was a new British record, beating a mark set by Kelly Holmes in 2004 – the same year Holmes won gold in both the 800m and 1500m at the Olympic Games in Athens. “I am delighted. I wanted to come away with a win on home soil but to break Kelly’s record, I’m so chuffed,” said Muir, now the favourite for both the 1500m and 3,00m at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March. “The crowd were huge, I couldn’t hear myself breathing they were so loud…I’m in the best shape I can be so I’m hoping to win some medals in Belgrade.”