Tadesse adds World gold to his Olympic 10,000m bronze

Bekele, searching for a sixth straight title, was leading comfortably but suddenly slowed down and stepped off the course on the last lap.

Tadesse sprinted on to finish the 12km race in 35 minutes, 49 seconds from Moses Mosop and Bernard Kipyego.

Britain's Mo Farah was the first European home in an excellent 10th.

606: DEBATE Give your thoughts on this result and Farah's display

Farah, the European Cross Country champion, registered a massive improvement from his 40th place in last year's 4km race, finishing the more testing 12km race in 37:31.

Michael Skinner was the next Briton home in 62nd place with Jason Ward 70th and Phil Nicholls 74th.

Bekele had been unbeaten at the World Cross Country Championships over both distances since 2001 but the Ethiopian's record was broken as he dropped off with 2km to go.

His management later blamed his shock withdrawal on stomach problems.

Kenyan-born Lornah Kiplagat, representing Holland, powered to the women's title in Mombasa.

Kiplagat celebrates her victory in Mombassa

Kiplagat, who won silver in Japan last year, became the first European to win the world title since Britain's Paula Radcliffe in Dublin five years ago.

She completed the 8km race in 26 minutes, 23 seconds ahead of Ethiopians Tirunesh Dibaba and Meselech Melkamu.

"It may have looked easy, but that was not the case at all," said Kiplagat.

"I started the race telling myself that I knew how to handle the race better than others because I had already run in such difficult conditions."

Britain's Hattie Dean and Hayley Yelling were 15th and 16th.

The depleted British team exceeded expectations to finish fifth overall with Felicity Milton 49th and Eleanor Baker 60th while Kate Reed failed to finish in the humid conditions.

The junior women's team had to compete when the heat was at its worst in Mombassa and did well to also come home fifth in the team event.

Charlotte Purdue, 15, was the first Briton across the line in 15th with Emily Pidgeon 17th. Britain's junior men finished 13th overall with Lee Carey the top finisher in 58th.