DOUBLE Olympic hero Mo Farah has thanked a Lake District firm for helping him achieve his stunning gold medal performances.

Mo ran gruelling races to scoop gold in both the 10,000m and 5,000m after using a super-cold ice treatment provided by Lowick’s Cryolab Sports.

The new athletics legend, who made history as the first British runner to win both Olympic events, conditioned his body by stepping into Cryolab Sport’s special chamber where the air around him was cooled to -160 degrees Celsius to aid his recovery between training and races.

He had the blistering cold therapy 10 times during the Games and the treatment is being credited with enabling his rapid recovery between golden runs.

Unlike an ice bath, the top athlete stays in the chamber for three minutes and the body is cooled using liquid nitrogen which forces the blood to rush to the core of his body.

When Mo steps out, the blood rushes back to the muscles and flushes toxins – such as lactic acid – out of the them to prevent stiffness.

Cryolab Sports owners Paul Broom and Karl Benn said the treatment enabled him to ‘recover fast enough to the run the 5,000 and win gold’.

They said they were contacted by NIKE prior to the games to treat Mo and fellow runner Galen Rupp, of the USA, who scooped silver in the 10,000m.

Karl, a former Furness amateur rugby union player, said that both Mo and Galen were treated for a couple of days at a time and then took a break.

And he treated Mo the day after he won the 10,000m. He said: “I watched him win the race on TV and it was fantastic. He was on top of the world the next day. He was just so happy and could not stop smiling.

“He asked me if I wanted to go and watch the women’s 10,000m final with him and I sat next to him, it was unreal.”

His wife and six-year-old daughter also met Mo, Karl added: “He is such an ordinary, nice man.”

Cryotheraphy was developed in Poland in the 1980s and is available on the national health service there. Karl discovered the state-of-the-art therapy while he was in Australia studying sport therapy and teamed up with Paul to bring a chamber to the UK, where there are just four units – and Cryolab Sports has the only mobile one.

This year the pair said they have treated the Wales Six Nations Rugby team and have a contract with Newcastle United Football club.

Karl said: “There has been some scepticism about cryotherapy and some have said it is just an expensive ice bath, but there is now clinical evidence to support that it does work better.”

He said that was the reason why there had not been a big take up in the UK so far – but Mo used it as part of his gruelling training.

“It is not a painful experience and the difference is that unlike an ice bath it inhibits inflammation and also affects haemoglobin, making it a much more efficient way of helping the body to recover.”

Paul said that Mo, who has been hailed as one of the best British runners of all time, used a Cryolab at the Nike Centre of Excellence in Portland, USA, where he trains.

“Athletes can recover much more quickly and so they can train much harder and also go into competitions fresher,” he said.

“Mo used it after the 10,000 race and before the 5,000. It enabled him to recover fast enough to be able to run the 5,000 and win gold.”

The pair will be treating Mo at the Great North Run in two weeks and they hope that they can take their venture further and even more UK athletes by being the first in the UK to manufacture the cryo chambers – which they plan to do in Cumbria.