Double European champion Mo Farah found himself beaten to the line by a half-shod competitor last night (5) at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
Dejen Gebremeskel lost his right shoe in the first lap of the fifteen-lap race, one of the headline events at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletics Center in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. Undaunted, Gebremeskel continued with just the sock, and late in the race when the lead came down to just Farah, Gebremeskel and Kenyan Nixon Chepseba, he refused to give up.
"I knew he was running on one shoe," said Farah, "and I thought if I just pushed hard he would give in," but Gebremeskel wouldn't. As Chepseba started to fade at the bell, Gebremeskel tried twice to get around Farah on the outside, and both times Farah dug deep to keep the Ethiopian on the outside. Finally, coming off the final turn by the roaring section of Ethiopian fans, Gebremeskel got a stride on Farah and held it to the finish tape. Gerbremeskel's 7:35.37 was less than half a second ahead of Farah's 7:35.81.
Farah admitted he was pleased with the time but less pleased at not winning, particularly to someone short on spikes.
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