The Briton clipped nearly six seconds off Belgian Mohammed Mourhit’s 1999 European mark of 26:52.30.

“I want a world medal and it showed here it hat if I keep working hard I will be in the mix,” said Farah, who now trains in Oregon with Alberto Salazar. His previous best was 27:28.86.

“I just set back and worked my way through,” said the 28-year-old who took the lead with three laps to go and pushed home hard for the surprising win.

“I knew I had a chance for the record.”

He beat top-ranked Eithiopian Imane Merga by more than 10 meters. Merga clocked 26:48.35 with Josphat Bett third in 26:48.99.

Kenyan world champion Vivian Cheruiyot won the women’s 5,000 meters in 14:33.96, the fastest time ever in America.

Compatriot Linet Masai, the 10,000 meters world champion, trailed by more than two seconds.

World record holder Tirunesh Dibaba withdrew before the competition after a scan revealed the Ethiopian had a potential stress fracture in her right shin.

Kenyan Moses Mosop easily broke 30-year-old track records for the rarely run 25,000 and 30,000 meters to open the distance carnival.

The 2005 world 10,000 meters bronze medallist took more than two minutes off the longer race record, running one hour, 26 minutes, 47.4 seconds.

The 25-year-old clocked one hour, 12 minutes and 25.4 seconds at the shorter distance.

Japan’s Toshihiko Seko set both previous records at Christchurch in March 1981. He ran 1:13:55.8 for 25,000 meters and 1:29:18.8 for the longer race.

Meantime, foot pain will keep China’s former Olympic champion Liu Xiang from running in Europe ahead of the world championships, his coach said on Friday.

The decision is part of a cautious build-up to the 2012 London Olympics for the former world record holder, who had Achilles surgery in 2008.

“Every time after hard training, he still feels a little bit of reaction,” Sun Haiping told reporters.

“His heel is okay, just fine, but I really do not want more meets to make it worse. He still needs to do some rehab training every day.”

Liu will emphasize recovery and maintaining his fitness this season, Sun said. “Next year we will do more meets,” he added.

After competing in Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting, the the 2005 world champion will do perhaps one more meeting in Asia before the world championships in August in Daegu, South Korea, the coach said.

He and American David Oliver, two of the fastest hurdlers of all-time, will clash for the second time in less than a month at the Oregon meeting.

Liu posted the season’s co-leading time while defeating Oliver in Shanghai on May 15. The victory snapped Oliver’s 18 meeting win streak.

“I know he will want to beat me,” Liu said, saying he still felt a strain in various parts of his body at times because of hard training.

As a precaution, Sun said he would not push Liu to run faster than 13 seconds this year.

“My time (on Saturday) is from 13 seconds to 13.10,” the coach said, adding he expected a similar time for the world championships.

Liu’s personal best is 12.88 seconds with Cuban world record holder Dayron Robles a hundredth of a second faster. Oliver has run 12.89.