2005 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 1500 metres

None The men's 1500 metres at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics was held on August 6, 8 and 10 at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The winning margin was 0.12 seconds. With the retirement of defending champion, reigning Olympic Champion and World record holder Hicham El Guerrouj and Olympic silver medalist Bernard Lagat involved in citizenship issues as he moved to the United States, the role of favorite opened up to another Moroccan, Rashid Ramzi who had transplanted his citizenship to Bahrain while continuing to train in Morocco. Returning silver medalist Mehdi Baala didn't make it out of the semi-final round. The race was led from the start, as it had been two years earlier, by Reyes Estévez who was known as a kicker, leading the field though a casual 60+ second first lap. Alan Webb marked Estévez, nervously trying to figure out a way to take the kick out of the faster runners. Rams added to his tension by coasting up to Webb's shoulder as the second lap began with the rest of the field bunching up behind. Just after the end of the second lap, Webb took off sprinting, timed in 12.3 between 800 and 900 meters. He opened up a four mere lead but Alex Kipchirchir and Ramzi followed by the rest of the field were in hot pursuit. Webb was unable to maintain his breakaway. In the penultimate turn he was passed by Ramzi who did have a breakaway, chased most closely by returning bronze medalist Ivan Heshko. Down the final backstretch Kipchirchir went by on the outside and Olympic bronze medalist Rui Silva squeezed by on the inside, Webb was cooked. From 9th place, deep in the field, Adil Kaouch began a final sprint, passing three as the slowing Webb was an obstacle. Continuing through the final turn, Kaouch passed everybody except Ramzi. Down the final stretch Ramzi's lead looked like it might not be enough but Ramzi was able to hold on for the win. Following Kaouch, Silva was also sprinting, after passing Heshko the medalists were decided. As Kaouch's gaining diminished he continued at his same pace, but Silva finished with an all out rush to the line missing the silver medal by a mere .02 of a second. Lagat would return to competition to beat Ramzi to silver in 2007. But Ramzi took the Olympic gold medal in 2008. That gold was short-lived as Ramzi was disqualified for having CERA in his system. While Ramzi's World Championship medals have not been disqualified, the Olympic disqualification puts a taint on Ramzi's accomplishments. Medalists GoldBHR Rashid RamziBahrain (BHR)SilverMAR Adil KaouchMorocco (MAR)BronzePOR Rui SilvaPortugal (POR) Results All times shown are in seconds. Heats August 6, 2005 Heat 1 FRA Mehdi Baala 3:36.56 Q ALG Tarek Boukensa 3:36.70 Q KEN Alex Kipchirchir 3:36.74 Q CAN Kevin Sullivan 3:36.80 Q GBR Michael East 3:36.84 Q USA Alan Webb 3:36.84 q MAR Yassine Bensghir 3:37.11 q ESP Juan Carlos Higuero 3:37.40 q BEL Joeri Jansen 3:39.43 q NZL Adrian Blincoe 3:39.54 q FIN Jonas Hamm 3:43.20 DJI Ahmed Mohamed Abdillahi 3:50.92 (PB) JPN Fumikazu Kobayashi 3:51.76 SUD Peter Roko Ashak DNS Heat 2 ESP Arturo Casado 3:41.64 Q MAR Adil Kaouch 3:41.75 Q (SB) USA Christopher Lukezic 3:41.80 Q POR Rui Silva 3:41.83 Q QAT Daham Najim Bashir 3:41.88 Q KEN Daniel Kipchirchir Komen 3:41.91 FRA Mounir Yemmouni 3:42.39 ALG Antar Zerguelaine 3:43.02 BHR Belal Mansoor Ali 3:43.15 BRA Hudson de Souza 3:43.18 GBR Nick McCormick 3:44.40 ETH 1996 Mulugeta Wendimu 3:44.42 TAN Samwel Mwera DNS TLS Alin Soares DNS Heat 3 BHR Rashid Ramzi 3:38.32 Q UKR Ivan Heshko 3:39.84 Q NZL Nicholas Willis 3:39.89 Q ESP Reyes Estévez 3:39.93 Q ETH 1996 Markos Geneti 3:39.94 Q MAR Youssef Baba 3:39.96 q USA Rob Myers 3:40.16 q CAN Nathan Brannen 3:40.69 q RSA Johan Cronje 3:41.43 q KEN Augustine Kiprono Choge 3:41.70 IRL James Nolan 3:42.53 ARM Armen Asyran 4:03.21 ALG Kamal Boulahfane DNS Semifinals August 8, 2005 Heat 1 MAR Adil Kaouch 3:40.51 Q (SB) ESP Arturo Casado 3:40.61 Q KEN Alex Kipchirchir 3:40.68 Q POR Rui Silva 3:40.72 Q ESP Reyes Estévez 3:40.73 Q NZL Nicholas Willis 3:40.87 CAN Kevin Sullivan 3:41.00 FRA Mehdi Baala 3:41.34 MAR Youssef Baba 3:42.12 USA Rob Myers 3:42.38 RSA Johan Cronje 3:42.77 ETH 1996 Markos Geneti 3:42.80 Heat 2 BHR Rashid Ramzi 3:34.69 Q USA Alan Webb 3:36.07 Q ALG Tarek Boukensa 3:36.14 Q QAT Daham Najim Bashir 3:36.38 Q UKR Ivan Heshko 3:36.60 Q ESP Juan Carlos Higuero 3:36.65 q MAR Yassine Bensghir 3:36.76 q USA Christopher Lukezic 3:37.20 NZL Adrian Blincoe 3:38.20 CAN Nathan Brannen 3:39.37 GBR Michael East 3:40.27 BEL Joeri Jansen 3:44.88 Final August 10, 2005 BHR Rashid Ramzi 3:37.88 MAR Adil Kaouch 3:38.00 (SB) POR Rui Silva 3:38.02 UKR Ivan Heshko 3:38.71 ESP Arturo Casado 3:39.45 ESP Juan Carlos Higuero 3:40.34 KEN Alex Kipchirchir 3:40.43 ALG Tarek Boukensa 3:41.01 USA Alan Webb 3:41.04 QAT Daham Najim Bashir 3:43.48 ESP Reyes Estévez 3:46.65 MAR Yassine Bensghir 3:50.19 External links Official results - IAAF.org 1500 metres Category:1500 metres at the World Athletics Championships