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SACRIFICES: Mo Farah

MO FARAH admitted that his silver medal in the 10,000m spurred him on to win the 5,000m gold at the athletics world championships earlier today.

Farah held off the challenge of Bernard Lagat of the United States and Ethiopia's Imane Merga, to win in 13 minutes, 23.36.

The Great Briton, who had gold snatched away from him in the final strides of last Sunday’s 10,000m said: "I pictured the 10k on the last lap thinking, I came so close then I'm not going to let anyone pass me. I can't quite believe it."

Farah deserves his success after much personal sacrifice. After winning the European titles at both 10,000m and 5,000m in Barcelona last summer, he moved with his family to Oregon at the start of the year to be coached by Alberto Salazar,

In an exciting race, Lagat tracked Farah throughout the second half of the race, but was unable to match his victory over this distance in 2007 and had to settle for a second successive silver.

Farah, who covered the final 400m in 52.87 seconds to become the first British world champion over the distance, added: "It's been hard work and a lot of sacrifices and I have to thank so many people who've been behind me."

Now Farah has his eyes firmly fixed on next year’s London Olympics. "It's a long way off. The aim is to stay injury free. Anything can happen in long distance."

Meanwhile triple jumper Phillips Idowu lost his world title, taking the silver medal behind American Christian Taylor.