Farah Voted 2011 European Athlete Of The Year

Beagles Mo Farah has been voted the 2011 winner of the men's European Athlete of the YearAward presented by MONDO. The pinnacle of his achievement in 2011 was, of course, winning the 5000m gold medal at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Mo started off his year by setting a European indoor record over 5000m in Birmingham in February in a time of 13:10.60.

He successfully defended his 3000m title at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris in March. In the summer, Mo set a European 10,000m record of 26:46.57 when winning at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon, in June and in July he ran a 2011 world-leading 5000m of 12:53.11 in Monaco, a time which ranked him second on the European all-time lists for the event as well as being a national record.

All this was a lead up to his feats at the World Championships in Daegu. Mo had to settle for the silver medal in the 10,000m; one of only two defeats in 14 competitions on all surfaces during 2011. Mo bounced back to run a tactically perfect race in the 5000m to become the first European runner to win a global title at the event for nearly two decades.