AFP, Beijing :
Mo Farah’s bid to defend his double world distance titles almost came unstuck on Wednesday as he was tripped coming into the final 200 metres of his 5,000m heat.
Great Britain’s Farah, who won 10,000m gold on Saturday, was in control of the race throughout but was clipped coming into the final bend, leaving him with a cut toe and causing him to stumble badly before correcting himself.
To gasps from the Bird’s Nest crowd in Beijing, Farah relaunched himself to finish second behind Ethiopian winner Yomif Kejelcha, the world’s fastest performer in 2015, who timed 13min 19.38sec in the hot morning sun.
Another Ethiopian, Hagos Gebrhiwet, won the first heat, clocking 13:45.00 to set up a mouth-watering clash in the final scheduled for 1130GMT on Saturday.
“It felt all right. I nearly went down — again!” laughed Farah in reference to stumbling also in the 10,000m final.
