Rupp sets U.S. 10,000m record in impressive Eugene win

EUGENE Oregon (Reuters) - American Olympic silver medallist Galen Rupp ran the year's fastest 10,000 metres to break his national record at the opening session of the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting on Friday.

With British Olympic gold medallist and training partner Mo Farah cheering him on, Rupp powered home in 26 minutes, 44.36 seconds to defeat Kenyan world bronze medallist Paul Tanui by five seconds at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, his home track.

Only Ethiopian world record holder Kenenisa Bekele has run faster (26:25.97) on American soil.

"I surprised myself a little bit to run that fast," said the 28-year-old Rupp, who bettered the U.S. record of 26:48.00 he set at Brussels in 2011.

"I wasn't thinking about the time until a quarter mile to go, the last lap," the Oregon native added.

Kenyan Olympic champion and world record holder David Rudisha returns from a year-long knee injury to face a high quality 800 metres field to highlight Saturday's action.

(Reporting by Gene Cherry; Editing by John O'Brien)