February 9, 2025
Athletics

Farah in New Race Row

Britain’s Mo Farah has become embroiled in a new race row after Spain’s Fabian Roncero said the Olympic star’s new European record does not count.

Farah, who was born in Somalia before moving to Britain aged eight, became the first British runner to break the hour-mark when he broke the European record in a time of 59 minutes and 32 seconds to win the Lisbon half-marathon on Sunday.

In so doing, Farah took a full 20 seconds off the European best set by Roncero 14 years ago – and the Spaniard has reacted bitterly to the performance, saying it should not count because of the Brit’s background.

“What was broken in Lisbon is a record for Somalia,” Roncero said, being adamant that he remains the “fastest born in Europe”.

“Although the official lists say that Mo Farah now holds the half-marathon record, for me the 800m European record holder remains Sebastian Coe, the 1,500m (Spaniard) Fermin Cacho, the 5,000m (German) Dieter Baumann and 10,000m (Portuguese) Antonio Pinto,” he added.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply