London: British athletics great Mo Farah eased to victory in the 3,000 metres at the Diamond League meet in the London Stadium yesterday and insisted off the track matters didn’t concern him.
The 34-year-old – a four-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champion having achieved the 5,000m and 10,000m double twice in both sporting showpieces – said he could have done little about his medical records being hacked by Fancy Bears and then leaked to the press last week.
“Other things don’t distract me. I’m only in control of my legs. Never will I fail a test,” said Farah.
Whilst Farah posted an impressive warm-up run for the world championships and his track swansong in London in three weeks’ time, there were others too who made statements of intent.
Jamaica’s 100m and 200m women’s champion Elaine Thompson won the 100m, coming from behind to edge out her great rival Dafne Schippers despite wearing shoes which resembled trainers.
There was a cracking race in the women’s 100m hurdles, with world record holder Kendra Harrison pushed the whole way by Australia’s Sally Pearson, who experienced her greatest moment on the same track in 2012 by taking Olympic gold.
Aries Merritt suggested he could well be a title contender in the men’s 110m hurdles at the worlds, just two years after undergoing a kidney transplant as the 2012 Olympic champion won in his season’s best of 13.09sec.
American great Allyson Felix ran an eye-catching 400m to time 49.65sec, the fastest time in the world this year.
Nijel Amos threw down the gauntlet to the 800m title contenders when the Botswana athlete ran the fastest time in the world this year in 1min 43.18sec on the track where he won Olympic silver behind David Rudisha in 2012. There was an emotional send-off for Paralympian legend David Weir, who won his final track race – the 800m – in the stadium where he won three titles in the 2012 Paralympics.