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NEWCASTLE, England — Great Britain’s Mo Farah capped his illustrious competitive racing career Sunday with a fourth-place finish at the Great North Run half-marathon.
Wearing a bib that read “Sir Mo,” the six-time Great North Run winner crossed in 1 hour, 3 minutes, 28 seconds, high-fiving dozens of people lining the route down the home straight.
“There was a lot going through my mind today,” Farah told the BBC. “I wanted to end my career here in Newcastle. I’ve won it six times and come here off the back of Olympics and world championships.
“It is very emotional. I get to go and enjoy my time with my wife and kids. Running is all I know. When you win something, you don’t quite appreciate it as much as when you lose. I’ve struggled with injuries these last few years.”
Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, the 2022 world marathon champion, won in 59:58 to erase his disappointing marathon at the worlds last month in Budapest, where he did not finish.
Peres Jepchirchir won the women’s race in 1:06.45.
Farah, 40, is a six-time world champion and four-time Olympic champion. He raced to gold medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in both the 2013 and 2015 world championships and repeated the golden double at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics.
“I shared my story of what I went through as a child,” he said. “Without having something to do and make me happy, it would have been very difficult for me.”
Farah was born in Somalia and revealed in 2022 that he was illegally brought to the U.K. and forced to work as a domestic servant at the age of 9.