A HIGH class performance from Callum Hawkins saw him become the first British athlete to beat Mo Farah for seven years, but he was narrowly pipped for first place by American Leonard Korir at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country.

The Elderslie athlete was praised by recently knighted Farah in the build-up to the race and the Kilbarchan AAC runner lived up to the billing as he put in an excellent performance to come within just a few metres of a stunning win at Holyrood Park.

Korir timed his finish better to pip Hawkins in the last 20m or so – with the lead having changed hands a couple of times on the final lap of the Senior Men’s 8K race.

The winning margin was just a single second, with Rio 2016 star Hawkins forced to settle for a silver medal in a time of 24.04 as the British team finished third overall on 208 points in the team competition, won by the USA.

Hawkins became the first British athlete to beat quadruple Olympic gold medallist Farah in any race for seven years, since Ricky Stevenson and Steve Vernon did so at the same venue in 2010.

The 24-year-old admitted the silver medal was bittersweet.

Hawkins said: “I thought I had it – I couldn’t hear (him coming behind) because of the crowd.

“I’m pleased with the way I ran but obviously a bit disappointed to get beaten. I gave it my all. I noticed there was a bit of a gap, but I slipped a bit on one of the last bends. I don’t know if that would have made a difference, though, because Korir is a quality athlete.”

Hawkins also defeated American athlete and three-times Holyrood winner Garrett Heath, as well as the two Kenyan-born Turkish athletes who beat him into third at the Euro Cross.

Hawkins will now turns his attention to the London 2017 World Champs after his marathon pre-selection for the marathon.