Australia's Collis Birmingham has run a season-best time in a speedy 3000m race at the London Diamond League meeting won by a thankful Mo Farah.
At a wet Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Friday night in front of a massive crowd of 40,000, British favourite Farah was competing in his first race on home soil since doping allegations were made against his coach Alberto Salazar.
He didn't disappoint his home fans at the stadium where he won Olympic 5000m and 10,000m gold in 2012, the 32-year-old pulling clear with 300m to go to cross the line in 7min 34.66sec - the fastest 3000m time of the year - ahead of Othmane El Goumri of Morocco and Kenya's Emmanuel Kipsang.
Victoria's Birmingham was impressive in fifth in 7:39.85 - just five seconds behind Farah - and his best time of 2015 in a solid tune-up a month out from the world championships in Beijing.
Fellow Australian Brett Robinson came in 12th in 7:48.59.
Farah later thanked the British public for supporting him through a difficult time after being roared to victory.
The noise from the crowd as Farah sprinted home brought back inevitable memories of London 2012 and helped to ease his frustration at the negative publicity he has attracted since the claims were made against Salazar last month.
"The crowd have been amazing with me," he said. "To come out and support me like that after the last two months was amazing.
"It's great to see the public understand and give me support."
Asked about the allegations against Salazar, Farah replied: "I'm just focusing on my running."
The Briton said that he would not be racing again before defending his world championship 5000m and 10,000m titles in Beijing next month.
The 24-year-old Robinson told AAP the crowd "went crazy" for Farah.
"It must be a fantastic feeling for him," he said.
"Halfway through the race I was just dead and flat.
"It wasn't great but I'll be better in a month, for the world champs."
In the men's discus, Australian Benn Harradine took third with a best throw of 63.98m to come in behind Belgium's Philip Milanov (65.14) and Poland's Robert Urbanek (64.47).
The discus throwing circle often had to be swept clear of water before the throwers could spin into action, but Commonwealth record holder Harradine still logged over 60m for five of his six throws.
Zoe Buckman was below-par in the women's 1500m, finishing 14th in 4:14.48 in a race won by the Britain's Laura Weightman.
The 26-year-old Australian, who competed at the 2012 Olympics, was well off her personal best of 4:04.09.
"I haven't had a great season so far ... I thought today would be better," Buckman told AAP.
"I'm just going to keep my head up and stay focused ... we're building towards Rio and no matter what I'm going to learn from it."
The event continues on Saturday with Australia's Alana Boyd competing in the pole vault and Kimberley Mickle in the women's javelin.
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