Sir Mo Farah marked his final indoor appearance in memorable style by breaking his own European 5,000m record in Birmingham this afternoon.
Farah pipped Bahrain's Albert Rop in a sprint finish, crossing the line in 13:09.16 to sign off his indoor career having outlined his intention to switch to road racing after the World Championships in London this summer.
The four-time Olympic champion followed in the footsteps of Scotland's Laura Muir, whose time of 2:31.93 saw her break the indoor 1,000m European record previously held by Dame Kelly Holmes.
"I am delighted - I really wanted to get the win, that was really important. To beat Kelly's record is amazing and to be so close to the world record is also very encouraging for me. It is every athlete's dream to be running well every time you come out on the track and being injury free. Hopefully I can carry this sort of form into the summer," Muir told reporters.
"I have worn my lucky spikes for all four of my national records so I am going to keep them safe for the future! They will be worth a bit now. I'll be going for my first senior outdoor medals at the Europeans - that is what I am targeting."
Farah added: "I can't quite believe it is my last race but I have had a great indoor career. It is something that must come to an end. It is weird thinking about it and saying goodbye because I have had great support from everyone and in particular this track where I have broken so many records. It has been amazing over the years.
"I didn't know I had broken the European record but that is good. It means a lot. It's a lot better than where I was in Edinburgh. There was no secret with what I had to do. I had to get out in the mountains and train hard and put in the miles. The last four weeks have been painful but it's what I needed.
"I knew I needed to do some work and to go away and leave my family behind and get back to real training and I did for the last four weeks and it is paying off, hard work pays off."
Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson also picked up a gold in Birmingham after dipping under seven seconds in the 60m sprint for the first time.
Barney Corkhill
