Gabriela Szabo was head and shoulders above the rest in cruising to the world 1500m title in Edmonton.

The Romanian ran a superb tactical race to finish in a time of four minutes 00.57 seconds ahead of compatriot Violeta Szekely and broze medallist Natalya Gorelova of Russia.

Turkish runner Sureyya Ayhan led the race for the first lap before Gorelova took over.

Szabo was tucked in behind three athletes, but with her superior finish she always looked favourite coming into the final 400 metres.

And sure enough with little over 100 metres remaining Szabo produced her trademark kick to blow away the field to win by over 10 metres from Szekely.

"I'm so, so happy," said Szabo.

"I always thought it was my race and always thought that I must win."