It may not have been a vintage year for British sport — and it has been no different for British athletics — but the last lap of 2006 proved a rewarding one yesterday for the nation’s harriers. After taking only one gold medal in track and field at the European Championships in Gothenburg in the summer, Britain won four in the continent’s annual cross-country championships here.
Pride of place went to Mo Farah, who became the first Briton since Jon Brown ten years ago to win the senior men’s title. Farah ran a commanding race for a decisive victory in this suburb of Milan, ending a run of five successive titles for Sergiy Lebid, from Ukraine, and finally hanging gold around a neck that was growing accustomed to wearing European silver.
Since winning the European junior 5,000 metres title in 2001, Farah had accumulated six continental silver medals without a further gold. Twice second in the European under-23 5,000 metres, twice runner-up over 3,000 metres in the European Cup, 2001 European junior cross country runner-up and European 5,000 metres silver medal-winner in Gothenburg, the wait for gold is over.
Farah, 23, is in the forefront of the young generation to whom Britain is looking for the 2012 London Olympics. Another member of the group of the hope is Stephanie Twell, who secured Britain’s other individual gold, in the junior women’s race. With her team winning — and victory, too, for the under-23 women’s squad — Britain were easily the most successful nation, with four golds.
Farah was born in Somalia but moved to Britain at the age of 9. More keen on football than he was athletics, he was persuaded into the latter by his PE teacher and has blossomed into Britain’s male athlete of the year, an award he won even before his victory yesterday.
Content to run in the lead group for the first four of the five laps of a 10-kilometre course, Farah made his move shortly after the bell. No sooner had he hit the front than he opened a gap, and so comfortably clear was he at the end that he could afford to wave to spectators on the final bend.
Farah consigned Fernando Silva to silver, finishing 40 metres clear of the Portuguese, with Lebid fading from the early running to finish twelfth. Asked if his succession of silver medals had started to nag at him, Farah said: “It was a bit. I have tried to win gold so many times.”
However, Alan Storey, Farah’s coach, said that the silver streak had never been a significant issue. “I do not think that was in his mind at all,” Storey said. “There are people who may have worried about being second six times, but Mo is not that sort of character. I do not think it made him more determined, he is determined anyway.”
No less determined was Twell, whose rivalry with Emily Pidgeon promises to be one of the features of British athletics leading up to 2012. Pidgeon, the European junior 5,000 metres champion, had to settle for fourth place yesterday, her prospects of gold having been hit by a foot ailment in late summer.
Twell took full advantage, beating off the resilient challenge of Karoline Grovdal, from Norway. “I was so determined I could not think of anything else — the finish line was on my mind the whole way,” Twell said. She had been sped on her way by a good-luck e-mail from Paula Radcliffe, twice the senior world champion. “She told me just to believe in myself,” Twell said. At 17, she still has two more years to run in the age group. The London 2012 pin she wore on her vest yesterday is, according to her father, Andy, never out of her sight. “She wears it on every occasion, even when she goes to bed on her pyjamas,” he said.
If there was a disappointment it was the senior women. Not only did Hayley Yelling and Jo Pavey finish outside the individual medals, the team lost the gold to Portugal on countback after scoring 47 points each. Yelling led the Britain team in sixth place, with Pavey eighth, and will not enjoy replays of the finish.
Had Yelling managed to hold off Julie Coulaud, from France, for fifth place, Britain would have beaten Portugal. Easing down towards the finish, Yelling seemed startled when Coulaud came, but could hardly have imagined the consequences for the team.
For Felicity Milton, the Durham University student who had a fairytale rise from beginner to Great Britain vest in nine weeks, it proved a tough international debut. She finished 35th but at least had the consolation of a silver medal as part of the team effort.
A silver medal, too, for Kate Reed who, at 24, has more reason than most to aspire to a place in London 2012. It will mark the centenary of the Olympics in 1912 in which her great, great grandfather, Kenneth McArthur, won the gold medal in the marathon for South Africa.
Results
Men: Senior (9,950m): 1, Mo Farah (GB) 27min 56sec, below; 2, F Silva (Por) 28:03; 3, J C de la Ossa (Sp) 28:06; 4, M Mohamed (Swe) 28:08; 5, K Zoubaa (Fr) 28:16; 6, R P Silva (Por) 28:17; 7, D El Himer (Fr) 28:17; 8, M Essaid (Fr) 28:17; 9, L Feiteira (Por) 28:21; 10, C Belz (Switz) 28:22. Leading team: 1, France 33pts; 2, Portugal 34; 3, Spain 44; 4, Great Britain 82; 5, Italy 93.
Under-23: 1, B Bene (Hun) 23:14; 2, D Markesevic (Serbia) 23:16; 3, D Meucci (It) 23:16; 4, Y Rybakov (Russ) 23:17; 5, A Rybakov (Russ) 23:22; 6, S Rahautsou (Bela) 23:24; 7, M van Waeyenberghe (Bel) 23:25; 8, A Aleksandrov (Russ) 23:26; 9, K Choukoud (Neth) 23:29; 10, S la Rosa (It) 23:29. Leading team: 1, Russia 28; 2, Italy 78; 3, Poland 94; 4, Ireland 102; 5, Great Britain 105.
Junior: 1, A Lalli (It) 16:53; 2, S Chebiarak (Bela) 17:03; 3, C Suhanea (Rom) 17:06; 4, A Popov (Russ) 17:12; 5, S Gariboldi (It) 17:14; 6, D Lashyn (Ukr) 17:15; 7, A Hahn (Ger) 17:15; 8, O Bas (Tur) 17:17; 9, M Elbendir (Sp) 17:20; 10, V Reis (Por) 17:22. Leading team: 1, Italy 68; 2, Spain 74; 3, France 74; 4, Turkey 83; 5, Great Britain 97.
Women: Senior (8,030): 1, T Holovchenko (Ukr) 25:17; 2, M Konovalova (Russ) 25:18; 3, O Jevtic (Serbia) 25:21; 4, A Kálovics (Hun) 25:26; 5, J Coulaud (Fr) 25:28; 6, H Yelling (GB) 25:28; 7, N de Vos (Bel) 25:34; 8, J Pavey (GB) 25:38; 9, J Augusto (Por) 25:38; 10, A Rosa (Por) 25:45. Leading team: 1, Portugal 47; 2, Great Britain 47; 3, France 69; 4, Russia 88; 5, Spain 94.
Under-23: 1, B Uslu (Tur) 18:47; 2, F Britton (Ire) 18:56; 3, T Erismis (Tur) 19:09; 4, A Hoban (GB) 19:10; 5, A de Soccio (It) 19:16; 6, V Trushenko (Russ) 19:19; 7, A Herzog (Neth) 19:20; 8, L Kenney (GB) 19:23; 9, K Kowalska (Pol) 19:24; 10, A van Campen (Bel) 19:34. Leading team: 1, Great Britain 56; 2, Poland 65; 3, Italy 96; 4, Netherlands 97; 5, Turkey 105.
Junior: 1, S Twell (GB) 12:33; 2, K B Grovdal (Nor) 12:36; 3, A Bobocel (Rom) 12:51; 4, E Pidgeon (GB) 12:59; 5, V Ivanova (Russ) 13:08; 6, S Edwards (GB) 13:12; 7, T Shutova (Russ) 13:16; 8, M Romo (Sp) 13:17; 9, J Hiller (Ger) 13:17; 10, A Westley (GB) 13:19. Leading team: 1, Great Britain 21; 2, Russia 76; 3, Romania 83; 4, Spain 98; 5, Germany 102.
