“Bekele is best,” says Salazar

American coach believes Kenenisa Bekele is the No.1 distance runner in history due to his huge number of global titles and “awfully fast” world records.

Alberto Salazar says Kenenisa Bekele is the greatest distance runner in history and Mo Farah has a massive challenge if he wants to break Bekele’s “incredible” world records for 5000m and 10,000m.

In December the BBC quoted Salazar as saying he thought Farah was the greatest distance runner of all time. But in an interview in the latest issue of Athletics Weekly, the American coach says his words were taken slightly out of context.

Speaking to David Cox for AW, Salazar explained: “I was asked about how I thought he compared to others in history and I said that I thought what he did (in London) is as good as what anybody else has done. Because other people have won those events (the 5000m and 10,000m at the Olympics), but Mo has done it in an era where it’s much more competitive to 20 or 30 years ago.” Read more