Muller Anniversary Games 2016: Saturday Athletics Results and Reaction
Mo Farah won the men's 5,000-metre run at the Muller 2016 London Anniversary Games to cap events on Saturday. It was a stunning display ahead of this summer's Olympics in Brazil.
Farah's victory was also part of another excellent day for Great Britain. Medals were collected in five more events, with the female athletes once again thriving.
There was also some controversy for Great Britain, though, with two competitor's disqualified. A false start cost Martyn Rooney his place in the men's 400-metre event, while Lawrence Clarke was later disqualified from the men's 110-metre hurdles for the same reason.
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Here are Saturday's results:
| Event | First | Second | Third |
| Women's Long Jump | Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR) | Shara Proctor (GBR) | Funmi Jimoh (USA) |
| Men's 4x100m Relay | Great Britain "A" | Great Britain "B" | Canada |
| Women's Pole Vault | Katerina Stefanidi (GRE) | Yarisley Silva (CUB) | Eliza McCartney (NZL) |
| Men's 400m | Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR) | Deon Lendore (TTO) | Rabah Yousif (GBR) |
| Women's Discus | Sandra Perkovic (CRO) | Dani Samuels (AUS) | Jade Lally (GBR) |
| Men's 400m Hurdles | Kerron Clement (USA) | Javier Culson (PUR) | Yasmani Copello (TUR) |
| Women's 3,000m Steeplechase | Habiba Ghribi (TUR) | Purity Kirui (KEN) | Aisha Praught (USA) |
| Men's Long Jump | Xinglong Gao (CHN) | Damar Forbes (JAM) | Michael Hartfield (USA) |
| Men's 110m Hurdles Final | Dimitri Bascou (FRA) | Gregor Traber (GER) | Konstantinos Douvalidis (GRE) |
| Men's Shot Put | Joe Kovacs (USA) | Tom Walsh (NZL) | David Storl (GER) |
| Women's 800m | Shelayna Oskan-Clarke (GBR) | Lynsey Sharp (GBR) | Molly Ludlow (USA) |
| Women's 200m | Dafne Schippers (NED) | Tiffany Townsend (USA) | Joanna Atkins (USA) |
| Women's 100m Final | Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV) | Michelle-Lee Ahye (TTO) | Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) |
| Men's 5,000m | Mo Farah (GBR) | Andrew Butchart (GBR) | Bernard Lagat (USA) |
All race information via London.DiamondLeague.com.
Recap
Farah set a strong early pace and soon held a commanding lead over the pack. He steadily kept the pressure on and resisted any attacks, particularly from Kenya's Isiah Kiplangat Koech.
As Athletics Weekly showed, Farah's advantage was soon an unassailable one:
It wasn't the strongest field Farah has ever faced, but to come home in under 13 minutes showed his strength and stamina remain as formidable as ever. On this form, the 33-year-old is a good bet for top honours in Rio.
After a fantastic Friday, Great Britain had made a great start to Saturday's events by dominating the men's 4x100-metre relay. In fact, teams "A" and "B" took the top two spots, finishing within a tenth of a second of one another.
Adam Gemili was one of the runners who helped Great Britain establish their globe-topping mark, per Team GB:
There was yet more success for Great Britain in the women's long jump. Katarina Johnson-Thompson took top spot on the podium after recording a breathtaking jump:
Johnson-Thompson's best effort was a 6.84-metre jump that saw fellow Brit Shara Proctor settle for second. Earlier, Jessica Ennis-Hill was surprisingly disappointing, managing a best jump of only 6.19 metres, good enough only for seventh place.
At this point, with two more medals in the bag, Alex Mills of Athletics Weekly felt more accolades were inevitable for Great Britain:
Things may have been looking good for the host nation then, but they soon looked messy when the men's 110-metre hurdles began. Clarke was disqualified for a false start, while fellow Brit Andrew Pozzi didn't start at all.
American Jarret Eaton was also guilty of a false start, so only six competitors from the field ran the race in the end. Frenchman Dimitri Bascou took advantage to win comfortably.
Yet Great Britain soon got back on track with another 1-2 finish, this time in the women's 800-metre run, where Shelayna Oskan-Clarke finished ahead of Lynsey Sharp.
The latter, though, was commended for her brave run by Metro's Matthew Nash:
But nobody could get near Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands in the women's 200-metre dash. She set a blistering pace and won with ample room to spare.
The British Athletics official site relayed these highlights of Schippers' breathtaking run:
Farah whipped the crowd into a frenzy late on with one more brilliant run in his glittering career. He'll lead a British team justifiably full of confidence ahead of Rio.
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