NEW YORK — Double Olympic champion Mo Farah said he “sort of” passed out after finishing second in the New York City half marathon Sunday, lying on the ground and then being wheelchaired off.
Farah sprinted through the finish for runner-up, 18 seconds behind Kenyan winner Geoffrey Mutai, and remained standing for several seconds after stopping.
Several minutes later, local TV showed footage of Farah lying on the ground, being tended to, and then being pushed in a wheelchair.
“I do remember sort of passing out,” Farah said about an hour after the race. “I tried so hard in the race, taking a fall and then going through. But, yeah, I’m all right. It’s fine. It’s not a big deal.”
Farah, the Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion, fell earlier in the race. He got his legs or feet tangled with another runner between the fifth and sixth miles. Farah was in the lead group at the time and dropped 25 seconds behind Mutai at the 15-kilometer mark (9.3 miles).
“I’m not sure what happened,” Farah said. “I just remember sort of falling down and just hitting the ground quite hard. … I got caught on my hip, my ankle, the whole right-hand side.”
Mutai, the two-time reigning New York City Marathon champion, won in 1 hour, 50 seconds. Farah edged Kenyan Stephen Sambu for second place by one second.
“Last four miles I struggled a bit,” Farah said. “I was pretty much seeing stars.”
Farah ran the 13.1-mile race for the first time since winning in 2011. He used it as a warm-up for the London Marathon, his 26.2-mile debut, on April 13.
“Conditions today were very cold,” said Farah, who began the race at 7:30 a.m. in long sleeves, a hat and gloves. “London’s going to be different, but I felt good at that point, to the point I went down [during the race]. It happens in the race. You’ve just got to deal with it.
“It would have been nice to come out here and win the race, but Mutai’s a strong athlete. … I guess nothing changes, you just have to continue training.”
