Men's 10,000m: Edmonton 2001 One of the greatest surprises in World Championship history saw Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie suffer his first 10,000m defeat in eight years.  | 10,000m WORLD RECORDS
Men's: ETH 26:20.31 Kenenisa Bekele 8/6/04
Women's: CHN 29:31.78 Junxia Wang 8/9/93 |
The pint-sized athlete had to settle for bronze behind Kenya's Charles Kamathi, who took the title, and silver medallist Assefa Mezgabu.
Haile, seeking his fifth straight world title in the event, could not match the sprinting speed of Kamathi or that of fellow countryman Mezgabu.
The Ethiopian, who underwent an Achilles operation at the end of 2000, found his rhythm after the opening two laps and appeared happy to sit in amongst the pack.
But Haile soon found the tempo set by the front-runners unsettling and made a move to the front at the 6000m mark.
And with just 200m to go the rangy figure of Kamathi seized the initiative.
He outran Haile and Mezgabu to win what will be widely regarded as the one of the most exciting 10,000m races ever seen.
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