Farah, Taylor shine at Prefontaine Classic

EUGENE, United States: Mo Farah laid down a marker to his rivals with a superb 5,000m victory in the Prefontaine Classic here on Saturday as triple jump king Christian Taylor edged ever closer to his dream of a world record leap.

Farah, the four-time Olympic champion, who is embarking on his final season of track racing, clocked the fastest time of the year after romping home in 13min 00.70sec at Eugene’s Hayward Field in Oregon.

Farah’s brilliant tactical victory was one of seven world leading performances set across a high quality day of action.

The display of the day came from US triple jump king Taylor, the two-time Olympic and world champion who recorded the third longest leap in history, 18.11m, to win a duel with compatriot Will Claye, who was second with 18.05.

Arguably the most surprising result of the day came in the women’s 200m which had been billed as one of the strongest fields ever assembled.

America’s Tori Bowie blasted to victory in the quickest time of the year in 21.77sec. Bowie led from start to finish to come home ahead of Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas in second with 21.91. Olympic champion Elaine Thompson was third with 21.98 while Dutch star Dafne Schippers was fourth in 22.30. Allyson Felix, the 2012 200m Olympic champion, was fifth in 22.33.