Golden mile for Ó Lionáird as Farah falls
It was a statement of intent from the Leevale man whose last race was the 1,500m final at the World championships in Daegu last year when he rounded off a spectacular summer by finishing 10th.
The race took a dramatic twist on the third bend where Britain’s Mo Farah, running second, tripped an took a heavy fall. He bounced back up and regained contact with the field and moved up into fifth place.
With three laps remaining, Farah’s training partner, Galen Rupp, had built up a 10 metre lead, but then, Ó Lionáird, another training partner of the world and European champion, caught Rupp with 150 metres to go and grabbed the initiative with Taylor Milne of Canada in hot pursuit.
Ó Lionáird, who has shaved off the his trademark mullet, held off Milne to win in 3:56.01 to 3:56.40 as Mo Farah came through to take fourth place in a new personal best of 3:57.92.
“Any time I step out on the track with these guys it’s a learning experience,” the Corkman said.
“I’m so privileged to have such training partners and such a training group.
“It was a good start to the season — a good way to kick it off. It was about staying relaxed after the chaotic start with the fall.
“I’m back in Albuquerque now. I did a (training) session after the race on Saturday night. I race next weekend in the USA Track and Field Classic in Arkansas. Some of the Kenyans are coming, including Daniel Komen and a few others, so I am hoping to get a faster pace and get down into low 3:50’s — that’s the goal,.
“Right now I’m as happy as I could be. It’s February 4 and as far as an opener goes, it’s good. I try not to get too high on it. I have to improve in my next race and keep building for the world indoors — keep moving in a positive direction. For an opener, it was a good race and it’s always nice to win in a decent time.
“I’m not nearly as sharp as some of the other guys.
“I have had a long winters training and it will be a few races before I’m really sharp but I’ll keep progressing and by the time world indoors come around I’ll be a lot sharper.”
As regards the head shave he said it was a more of a business-like approach. “The mullet was good to announce myself on stage. Now that I am known I’d rather be known for performances on the track.
“It’s a long time since we saw Irish milers at the top and Boston is a city with a big Irish connection so I had lots of support.”
Farah was happy with his new pb which he achieved despite the heavy fall.
“I was kind of stunned when it happened,” he said.
“Once I fell, I had to get back in as quickly as possible. It wasn’t easy, you know. I just got back up as quickly as I could and started chasing everybody. To run that fast in a race like that, well I guess that’s a pretty good sign of my fitness.”
It was Ciarán O Lionáird’s second time running at Reggie Lewis Centre. Last time he was just 17 when he finished second to Michael Coe from California in the High School Mile when Reebok had all the top under-17’s there.
The Nike Oregon Project athletes wore new singlets to honour longtime Nike executive Geoff Hollister who was responsible for setting up the Nike Project but is ill at the moment.
Mark English (Letterkenny AC) won the 800m at the New Balance Invitational at the Armoury in New York in 1:49.49 secs. John Coghlan finished fifth in the mile in 4:03.93 while Brian Gregan qualified for the final of the 400m but did not show up. They are members of the DCU team for next week’s DRM at the Millrose Games.
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