A pre-race row over a lack of competition may have spurred Mo Farah on at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix as he shattered the two-mile world record.

Fellow Team GB runner Andy Vernon hit out at the strength of the field on Twitter during the week, sparking an argument between the two.

Farah subsequently claimed that the animosity between the pair dated back to an incident when Vernon questioned his nationality after the double Olympic champion won European 10,000m gold.

But the Somali-born ace forgot that to clock eight minutes 3.40 seconds on Saturday - almost a whole second better than Kenenisa Bekele's previous indoor benchmark.

"This means a lot to me," Farah told BBC Sport. "I love representing my country, giving something back to all the people. Unbelievable.

"It was amazing. Training's been going well. I knew I could go close but I hadn't raced in so long.

"The crowd got really behind me - I'm so pleased. It was an amazing atmosphere.

"So many people have asked me when I was going to beat a world record. I really wanted to do it. Thank you, everyone."

Vernon magnanimously tweeted after the race: "Everything aside that was a cracking run @Mo_Farah. Congratulations on the new WR."