Just what the coach ordered as Farah crowned world champion

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.

Farah was contesting the lead at the bell, crucially maintaining the inside line on the orders of his coach Alberto Salazar 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 bravely held on to become the first British man to win a World title over 5,000m.

“It was perfection,” said Moorcroft, who set a world record of 13mins 00.41secs in 1982, a time which stood as a British record for 28 years until Farah broke it last year in Zurich.

“It was everything we hoped he could produce, that he didn’t quite produce in the 10,000m, as brave as it was.

“I probably can speak on behalf of all British distance runners. We’re really proud of what Mo did tonight. No male distance runner has ever won a global title at 5,000 or 10,000m.

“Liz McColgan won the 10,000m back in 1991, Paula Radcliffe won the marathon in 2005. We’ve waited a long long time for an athlete like Mo to emerge and be the best in the world. Tonight he’s not only the fastest in the world, he’s the best racer.”

Moorcroft, who was also chief executive of UK Athletics from 1997-2007, added: “Unpredictability in a championship is something you have to contend with as a distance runner.

“You can’t rely on the fact it’s going to be fast, you have to have a series of different options and tonight Mo just had too many answers to any question that was thrown at him.

“On the last lap all he did was wind it up. It was a very, very fast last lap, but he came off the top bend with one more gear and the rest couldn’t respond.

“It was perfect in timing, perfect in terms of execution and it was a real great combination between physical effort and brain.”

Marlon Devonish and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey were at a loss to explain the relay mix-up which cost Great Britain a medal in Daegu.

American Darvis Patton collided with Aikines-Aryeetey coming into the final changeover in the 4x100 metres relay and, although the Briton kept his balance, he was unable to take the baton from Devonish.

Patton was coming in to hand the baton to anchor-leg runner Walter Dix and crashed to the track in the collision.

St Kitts and Nevis took bronze behind winners Jamaica – who set a new world record of 37.04 seconds – in 38.49secs, 0.2secs slower than Britain had run in the semi-final.

“I felt this big knee in my arm. I’m disappointed, we didn’t come here for this,” Aikines-Aryeetey said. “I said sorry to the guy (Patton) but I stayed in my lane. I’m a big guy.

“There was no reason why Marlon couldn’t have caught me. I believe I went on the mark.

“When I got hit I carried on running, I don’t know whether I ran faster or slower. I don’t know why Marlon couldn’t catch me.”

Devonish, competing in his eighth and last World Championships, said: “For the life of me I couldn’t see why I didn’t give him the baton.

“If I was running too slow, not coming in quick enough, then it was my fault and I’ll take it on the chin, but I felt like I was running harder than I did in the semi-final and I still couldn’t get the baton to him, despite the drama of him getting hit by the American.”

Replays suggested Aikines-Aryeetey may have gone off too early, but Devonish did not think so.

“He says he hasn’t,” the 35-year-old said. “If that is the case I wasn’t coming in quick enough and it’s my fault, I can take that on the chin. I’m gutted, it’s my last World Championships and I didn’t want it to end on a baton drop.”

Team captain Christian Malcolm, who led the team off, insisted no one could take the blame for the collision.

“It’s just an accidental collision, simple as that, there’s no one to blame,” the Welshman said. “It’s not poor baton skills, it’s not poor relay skills, it’s one of those things that’s unfortunate and it’s unfortunate that it’s happened tonight.

“What can you do? It was an unfortunate accident, if wasn’t our fault, it wasn’t anyone else’s fault. Harry did nothing wrong.”

But it is the second major championships in a row in which Britain have seen their hopes of a medal slip away, after a changeover mix-up cost the team at the European Championships in Barcelona last year.

UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee has criticised several British athletes who missed out on medals. Despite their haul of seven medals, van Commenee singled out a number of “under-performing” athletes ranging from the merely disappointing to the “unforgivable”.

Falling further short of the mark were Jenny Meadows, who failed to make her 800m final, and the men’s relay teams.

“Of the athletes that should be close to medals, a number have underperformed,” van Commenee told BBC Sport. “Of course I’m disappointed, especially in the jumps and the men’s relays.

“The 4x4 was appalling, no real effort, unforgivable really, and of course we expected an athlete in the 800m final for women.

“There are disappointments but two-and-a-half years ago, if I could predict we would have seven medals, I would have been very happy with that.”

The Dutchman, who took his current role in September 2008, added: “I’ve always said that at the end of these championships we wouldn’t have a finished product. I said we needed three-and-a-half years, not two-and-a-half, and it shows.”

WEBB HAS EYE ON OLYMPICS AFTER DAEGU DISPLAY

DAVID Webb toasted a job well done at the World Athletics Championships yesterday after putting himself firmly in contention for next year’s London 2012 Olympics.

Leeds runner Webb arrived in Daegu with one thing on his mind, forcing his way into the world’s top 20 to give himself an A-standard qualification mark for the Games.

And in just his fourth ever marathon, Webb did just that, ending 15th in a season’s best time of 2.15.48 minutes.

“Finishing top 20 here counts as an a-standard for the Olympics, so it would be great if that proves to be enough to get selected, it certainly would be a dream come true,” said Webb, who finished seven places ahead of British team-mate Lee Merrien.

“I felt good at the European Championships in Barcelona last year but suffered with an upset stomach and that really hit me hard in the second half of the race. So today I was thinking that if everything goes smooth – and knowing the training had gone well – hopefully it would come together.

“Being out here in Korea for two weeks already has really helped – I know it’s a bit more overcast than it has been but I didn’t find it as oppressive as I might have done.”

Lying 45th and seemingly well off the pace, Webb looked to be out of the running for a 2012 berth at the 25km mark. However the 29-year-old roared back in the last third of the race, picking off competitors left, right and centre to time his finish to perfection and end in the top-20.

“I started fairly steady then at 20-25km thought I would just push on a bit,” added Webb. “The plan was to keep like that until 25km-30km, then whatever I had left left in the tank just take it from there.

“I think I ran quite a fair bit quicker in the second half of the race than I did in the first, so that was good as you get the confidence of passing people as well which helps.”

David Webb was selected for the Aviva GB&NI Team at the World Championships in Daegu, Korea. Aviva’s support, both at home and abroad, is helping the team prepare to compete at their best. To find out more, go to aviva.co.uk/athletics or follow us on Twitter @AvivaAthletics