Men’s 3000m final
Haile Gebrselassie completed the first part of his double mission by winning the 3000m in 7:53.57 ahead of his countryman, world junior cross country champion Million Wolde and Kenya’s Paul Bitok. As expected, Gebrselassie conserved as much energy as possible – doing just enough to win. He took the lead decisively with 400metres left to run and clocked 55.43. Million shadowed him to the finish, as Bitok tried desperately to move past him in the last 50 metres. The early pace had been stately – with 1500 metres covered in 4:40.80 – and it was left to Italy’s Gennaro di Napoli – who was a world champion in this event in 1993 and 1995 - to take the initiative at the 2200 metres point. But his brave effort came to nothing although he finished fourth – as he did in Paris two years ago.
Listen to the closing stages in Multimedia
