Farah’s strength of character shines through in 5,000m as Britain exceed van Commenee demand

UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee had demanded seven medals, one of them gold, but saw his team win seven medals with two gold thanks to Farah and Dai Greene in the 400m hurdles.

“That is one of the very best performances we’ve ever had in the history of British athletics,” van Commenee said. “That sets us up for next year where the target is eight. So it’s my job to find another medal.

“We always knew there would be work to be done in the next 11 months.

“The good news is I now know what has to be done.”

Seven days after being pipped to victory in the 10,000m, Farah returned to the track and held off American Bernard Lagat to win a dramatic 5,000m in 13 minutes 23.36 seconds.

Just seconds later it looked like Idowu would also win after a season’s best 17.70m restored his healthy lead, but American Christian Taylor then produced a stunning leap of 17.96m – the ninth longest in history – to relegate Idowu to the silver medal position.

The defending champion responded with 17.77m in the fourth round, but that only proved enough to be the longest jump in championship history not to win gold.

Farah had been happy to stay at the back of the pack in the early stages as the race slowed to almost walking pace at one stage, but Saudi Arabia’s Hussain Alhamdah eventually injected some energy with six laps to go to stretch out the field.

But Farah was contesting the lead by the bell, crucially maintaining the inside line as Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel tried to go around the outside.

With 100m to go Gebremeskel began to fade and it was Lagat – world champion over 1,500m and 5,000m in 2007 – who began to threaten, but Farah defiantly held on to become the first British man to win a world title over 5,000m.

Ethiopia’s Imane Merga initially claimed bronze before being disqualified for running off the track, promoting compatriot Gebremeskel to third pending a possible appeal.

Farah said: “I’m very proud. I can’t believe it. It just hasn’t sunk in right now. I came so close in the 10k and I just wanted to do it in the 5k.

“My coach Alberto (Salazar) just told me, ‘Do not let anyone pass’. “Gebremeskel tried to come past me and I just had to hold him, hold him, hold him and then the last bit just try and dig in. I just had to go out there and try and relax; just do what I did in the 10k but get it right this time.”

Farah won 10 races in a row earlier this year after moving his wife and daughter with him to work with Salazar in Oregon and added: “I just want to thank everyone who’s helped me. It’s great to have my family behind me. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices, moving away from home where it’s comfortable relative to everything else and I’m glad I made that choice because it’s working. I’ve got the gold now. It just feels amazing.”

Usain Bolt anchored the Jamaican men’s 4x100m relay team to a victory in a new world record of 37.04s.

France took silver and St Kitts and Nevis a surprise bronze after the American and British teams failed to finish.

Running the third leg, Darvis Patton appeared to collide with Britain’s anchor man Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, the American crashing to the track and Aikines-Aryeetey failing to received the baton from Marlon Devonish.

More athletics: Page 11.