Wednesday, 31 July 2013 00:00
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Reuters: Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt has accepted a challenge from Britain’s Olympic middle distance champion Mo Farah to race for charity, saying he would be prepared to meet over 600 metres. Farah, who won gold at the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the London Olympics last year, was the star turn of the Games along with Jamaican sprinter Bolt, who won the 100 and 200 metres.
“It would be great to do a distance where people vote in – proper athletics fans – on what distance they think is most suitable,” Farah told Sky Sports. He then turned to the camera and said: “Are you up for that? Come on, you’ve got to do it.”
In a separate interview, Bolt was shown the footage and replied he would be prepared to take on the challenge. “That sounds fun,” he said. “It’s going to be hard but it’s charity so it’s all about fun and enjoyment.
“I’m up for anything, for anything’s possible.”
Bolt, who holds the world records at 100 metres and 200 metres, said running 1,500 metres would be out of the question. “It’s way too far,” he said. “600 for sure I can try because I’ve done 600 metres in training, but not 1,500 metres.”
Farah, the Somalia-born 30-year-old who grew up in London, has lightning pace over the final stretch and has recently experimented with shorter distances, setting a European 1,500 metre record of 3:28.81 this summer.
Farah laid down the challenge to the Jamaican sprinter after running a personal best of 7 minutes 36.85 seconds in the 3,000 metres at the London Anniversary Games at the weekend.
One intriguing aspect of the race would be how the taller, more powerful Bolt would cope with the early stages of the longer distance and if he would have the acceleration to match Farah’s finish after running 500 metres.
