Mo Farah celebrates after winning the men's 5000m final on Saturday.

Great Britain’s Mo Farah won the 5000m gold in commanding fashion to become the first athlete to complete the 5000m & 10000m European double since Italy’s Salvatore Antibo’s feat in Split in 1990.

In doing so the Somalian-born star has now added a 5000m title to his list of accolades that includes European gold medals at cross country (2006), 3000m indoor (2009) and 10000m here in Barcelona. In addition to these, Farah became the first Briton to win the 5000m gold since Jack Buckner’s title in 1986.

However, the 38,121 crowd that assembled inside the Olympic Stadium felt a tinge of disappointment as local hero and defending champion Jesús España could not strike gold again and had to settle for silver while double European junior champion Hayle Ibrahimov of Azerbaijan became the first medallist for his country over 5000m.

The race opened very cautiously with a 1:11.84 lap led by Spain’s European cross country champion Alemayehu Bezabeh; the Ethiopian-born athlete injected some speed in the following laps but the rhythm was relatively pedestrian with successive km splits of 2:50.38 (1000m), 5:41.93 (2000m) and 8:28.46 (3000m).

The eventual winner Farah took command of the race with three laps, covering the fourth kilometre in a much faster 2:37.48 with Ibrahimov following him on closely. A major upset happened with 800m left when Spain’s world indoor 3000m silver medallist Sergio Sánchez dropped out the race.

The final 800m were frantic as the 27-year-old Farah stepped on the gas and edged ahead to cover the penultimate lap in a brisk 59.15, with Ibrahimov and España still on his shoulder. By the bell it became clear that barring disaster, the medals were to be decided by the lead trio, who had built a 30m margin over the chasing group.

With España still in contention the home fans were screaming loudly dreaming of a Spanish win, but Farah had different plans and produced an exhilarating closing 400m timed of 55.70 to finally bag 5000m gold. España only could overtake the diminutive Ibrahimov on the homestretch to capture silver.

Farah’s last kilometre of 2:25.24 was the fastest ever in the European championships while the gap between the bronze medallist and the fourth placer, Ukraine’s Sergiy Lebid (13:34.15 and 13:38.69 their respective times) was the biggest ever.

Lebid pipped France’s Noureddine Smail in a photo-finish final while European 10,000m bronze medallist Daniele Meucci of Italy came sixth ahead of Bezabeh.

Farah said: “At the bell, when I was pushing hard but Ibrahimov and España were closing on to me. I realized that it was a similar situation to the one we had in Göteborg four years ago when España beat me on the homestretch and so I said myself “never again” and I pushed to the death to leave them behind. Luckily, it paid off and I got the title. This wins is dedicated to my long-standing partner Tania. We got married in April and she has helped me a lot to achieve this gold medal alongside the rest of my family”.

As for España, the 31-year-old Spaniard declared: “First of all, I would like to congratulate Farah for his gold medal. I defeated him in Göteborg four years ago and I’m sure he has worked very hard to be able to defeat me here. I’m happy for him. As for me I’m in the form of my life, had good feelings throughout the race but I simply couldn’t beat Farah”.

Maybe España finds some consolation in the fact that Spain has made the podium for the fifth time in a row over 5000m thanks to his silver today.