Markos Geneti of Ethiopia and Kenyan Bernard Lagat emerged the winners from two extremely tight races in semi-finals of the men's 3000 metres.
Geneti, the World Youth champion over the distance in 2001, took control of the lead at the bell, to finish in 7:52.01. Rui Silva of Portugal was second in 7:52.14, ahead of Antonio david Jiminez of Spain (7:52.25). Disaster almost struck for the Spaniard just as he was approaching the bell when he was knocked off the track by the much larger Gert-Jan Liefers. After clearing a multitude of cables and hurdling the finish line clock, Jiminez managed to stay on his feet and actually finished just ahead of the Dutchman Liefers (7:52.75).
Bernard Lagat took control of the race's tempo from the outset for a gun-to-finish win in 7:47.70. The next four finishers closed within two-tenths of a second of each other, with Australian Craig Mottram second in a national record 7:48.09. Ethiopian number two Abiyote Abate was third in (7:48.25), just two one-hundredths ahead of Sergio Gallardo's 7:48.27 PB. Sergiy Lebid was another hundredth behind in fifth, just ahead of Canadian record holder Kevin Sullivan (7:48.38) and Moroccan Mohammed Amyne (7:49.92) who also advanced.
Kenyan Boaz Cheboiywo, who controlled much of the pace in the first race, finished sixth in the 7:53.69, was the fastest non-qualifier.
