Mo Farah 'feeling good' after New York half-marathon collapse

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Media caption,

Farah collapses after New York race

Mo Farah says he is "feeling good" despite collapsing shortly after finishing the New York half-marathon.

The 30-year-old Briton, who fell during the race after being tripped, was taken away in a wheelchair.

"It's not a big deal," insisted the double Olympic champion, who finished second to Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai.

Discussing his fall, he said: "I was seeing stars. Everything was kind of blurred to me. I just wanted to keep going. I didn't want to stop and drop."

Image source, Getty Images

Farah, who is preparing to make his full marathon debut in London in April, had said he was targeting his own British half-marathon record of one hour 59 seconds set in New Orleans in 2013.

Five miles into the race, the 30-year-old was in a leading group of eight but was accidentally tripped from behind and tumbled to the ground, allowing Mutai and compatriot Stephen Sambu to break clear.

Although Farah overtook Sambu with metres to spare, he could not catch Mutai, finishing 18 seconds behind in 1:01.08.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

He was placed into a wheelchair and taken from the course area

"I would have done exactly the same thing if I was him in the race," admitted Farah, who won 5,000m and 10,000m gold at the 2012 Olympics in London.

"I'm not sure what happened. I just remember falling and hitting the ground quite hard. I got caught on my hip, my ankle, the whole right-hand side.

"At that point, I just wanted to get back up and get with the group. It did take quite a lot out of me.

"My aim was to just close the gap slowly, but I couldn't quite close the gap. Then, the last four miles, I struggled a bit. I just tried so hard."

In 2009, Farah collapsed after finishing second, external at the European Cross-Country Championships in Fingal, Ireland.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Farah later appeared in good health at the post-race media conference

Sally Kipyego of Kenya won the women's event.

Kipyego set a new event record with a time of 68 minutes and 31 seconds, finishing 29 seconds clear of Ethiopian Bizunesh Deba, with Molly Huddle of the United States third, 34 seconds behind the Kenyan.

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