Athletics:Ben Reynolds bowed out of the 60 metres hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul at the semi-final stage this afternoon. The Co Down youngster clocked 7.80 seconds in this afternoon's semi-final to finish in seventh place.
Reynolds, competing in his first world championship event, made a promising start but was swiftly outstripped by the likes of China’s Liu Xiang, who won the race in a time of 7.53. Having lined up alongside the former world record holder, Reynolds feels he can only benefit from the experience.
“It’s amazing,” Reynolds said. “He’s (Xiang) been my idol the whole time I’ve been a hurdler. I’m a real student of the event, I’ve studied the greats, and in technical terms and maybe in absolute terms Liu Xiang is the master of all time.”
Meanwhile, Britain’s world 5,000m champion Farah was hugely dismayed to suffer his third defeat in succession after missing out on a medal in the 3,000m final won by American Bernard Lagat.
Kenya’s Augustine Choge took the silver and compatriot Edwin Soi held on for the bronze as Farah made a desperate lunge for the line. “I’m very disappointed, I was hoping to get a medal out here,” Farah said. “It was a tough race, it came down to the last lap. I tried to dive through the line but it wasn’t enough.”
Asked if it was a case of one race too many over the winter, Farah said: “Not at all, it was all about tactics and speed and that just proves again you can’t take anything for granted and I need to keep working hard.
“The good thing is this event is not in the Olympics, so it’s all a learning curve and about working on my speed. In the Olympics I will be running the 5,000 and 10,000m. My confidence is still high.”