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Harun Nasrullah
Muslim athletes broke world records at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels on September 4. Sir Mo Farah and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands broke the men and women’s one-hour race records respectively.
In the rarely run race, athletes try to cover as much distance as possible in 60 minutes. Britain’s Four-time Olympic champ ran 21,330 m, bettering the record of 21,285 m set by Haile Gebrselassie in 2007, while Hassan’s 18,930 m effort surpassed Dire Tune’s mark of 18,517 m, set in 2008.
Speaking about his first world record outdoors Farah said, “It isn’t supposed to be easy to break a world record, but I can tell you that it was really hard. The record stood for a very long time so that says a lot.”
“I was very excited to be back on the track. My first meet back on the track was what was driving me,” the 37-year-old told the BBC. It isn’t supposed to be easy to break a world record, but I can tell you that it was really hard. The record stood for a very long time,” said Farah.
Farah switched to road running after the Rio Olympics but was returning to the track in his bid to compete in the 10,000 m at next year’s postponed Tokyo Games.
Competing for the first time since October’s Chicago Marathon, Farah pulled away alongside Belgium’s Bashir Abdi with 30 minutes left.
The pair’s effort looked in doubt as they fell behind Gebrselassie’s record pace with no fans in the stadium to drive them on, but they went ahead again as the final quarter of the race began.
Abdi briefly took the lead, but in the end, six-time world champion Farah kicked away and won the race with ease. He completed over 53 laps at an average pace of 67 seconds per lap to become the 12th athlete to hold the record.
“At a certain point, with just 10 laps to go, it became tough, so I was happy that Bashir took the lead,” Farah added.
“However, I felt great with just one minute to go. I believed in my speed, so I knew I had a good chance to take this win. A last fast lap is still my best tactic.”
Farah will return to road racing when he competes in the Antrim Coast Half Marathon on September 12. He will then act as a pace-setter for Kenya’s world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele at the delayed London Marathon on October 4.
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