1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 10,000 metres

None Men's 10,000 metres 1983 World Championships Helsinki Olympic Stadium 7 August (heats)9 August (final) 37 27 28:01.04 Alberto Cova ITA Werner Schildhauer GDR Hansjörg Kunze GDR 1987 These are the official results of the men's 10,000 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total number of 37 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats held on Sunday 7 August and the final held on Tuesday 9 August 1983. The winning margin was 0.14 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 10,000 metres was won by less than a quarter of a second at these championships. Records Existing records at the start of the event. World RecordHenry Rono KEN27:22.4Vienna, AustriaJune 11, 1978Championship RecordNew event Summary With the best in the world filtered down to 18 finalists, there was still a traffic jam on the track. In the first 80 metres several athletes were jostled trying to find running room. Christoph Herle and Antonio Prieto found themselves lying on the track. Out of the chaos, Bekele Debele was far back in the string of competitors, speeding down the outside of the backstretch. This culminated with him taking over the lead for a short period of time before Gidamis Shahanga took over the point. Joined by Mohamed Kedir, the three Africans jockeyed for the lead marked most closely by Carlos Lopes. The African pace was not consistent, instead slowing until the field bunched then speeding up to disrupt the even pace most distance runners would prefer. With 6 laps to go, tall, long striding, home favorite Martti Vainio took charge with a 63 second lap, exciting the crowd and forcing the field the change their pace to catch back up. For three laps, Vainio held the lead but was looking for help that was not going to support him. With three laps to go, the pack was bunched tighter than ever, 13 athletes all within 10 metres. Again Kedir took the lead with Lopes almost attached to his shoulder. 50 metres before the bell, the pack was finally disrupted by Werner Schildhauer sprinting out to a 3 metre lead. His East German teammate Hansjörg Kunze and Vaino rushed to cover the break. Shahanga and Alberto Cova were the last to hang on to the breakaway down the final backstretch. With 200 to go, Schildhauer had 3 metres on Kunze who had another 3 metres on Vainio, with Shahanga and Cova respectively another 2 and 4 metres back. Through the final turn, all those distances began to compress. By the time they hit the final straightaway, they were in the same order but with a metre separating each. Each then pulled progressively wider, Cova all the way out to lane 4, so each could have running room for the sprint to the finish. Cova was clearly the faster sprinter, cruising past the field. Schildhauer and Kunze both leaned for the finish way too early, hoping the finish line would arrive sooner. The first four runners separated by a third of a second after 10,000 metres. The result was not exactly a surprise, it was the same result as the European Championships for Cova, Schildhauer, Vainio and 6th place Lopes, a year earlier, with the addition of Kunze and Shahanga. Minus the boycotting East Germans, Cova pulled the same stunt on Vainio in what turned into a match race at the 1984 Olympics. Days later, Vainio was later disqualified for doping. Results Heats The qualifying heats took place on 7 August, with the 37 athletes involved being split into 2 heats. The first 5 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 8 fastest ( q ) qualified for the final. Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 1 Fernando Mamede POR 27:45.54 Q, CR World Championships in Athletics 2 1 Alberto Cova ITA 27:46.61 Q 3 1 Gidamis Shahanga TAN 27:46.93 Q 4 1 Werner Schildhauer GDR 27:47.03 Q 5 1 Antonio Prieto ESP 27:47.34 Q 6 1 Steve Jones GBR 27:47.57 q 7 1 Bekele Debele ETH 27:49.30 q 8 1 Mark Nenow USA 27:52.41 q 9 2 Hansjörg Kunze GDR 28:04.69 Q 10 2 Carlos Lopes POR 28:05.62 Q 11 2 Nick Rose GBR 28:06.05 Q 12 2 Christoph Herle FRG 28:06.71 Q 13 1 Henrik Jørgensen DEN 28:06.74 q 14 2 Mohamed Kedir ETH 28:07.16 Q 15 2 Martti Vainio FIN 28:07.47 q 16 2 José Gómez MEX 28:07.57 q 17 2 Bill McChesney USA 28:08.13 q 18 2 Alberto Salazar USA 28:10.10 q 19 2 Steve Binns GBR 28:12.79 20 2 Peter Butler CAN 28:13.16 21 2 Zakariah Barie TAN 28:22.06 22 1 Rodolfo Gómez MEX 28:25.38 23 1 John Treacy IRL 28:35.58 24 2 Ahmed Musa Jouda SUD 28:38.03 25 1 Roy Andersen NOR 29:03.45 26 1 Boualem Rahoui ALG 29:10.95 27 1 Domingo Tibaduiza COL 29:23.86 28 2 Kunimitsu Ito JPN 29:49.04 29 2 Ronald Lanzoni CRC 30:18.60 30 1 Antoine Nivyobizi BDI 30:45.10 31 1 Ramón López PAR 31:27.01 32 1 Said Toumane COM 34:24.62 33 1 Markus Ryffel SUI DNF 34 2 Stanislav Rozman YUG DNF 35 1 Mehmet Yurdadon TUR DNS 36 2 Girma Berhanu ETH DNS 37 2 Dietmar Millonig AUT DNS Final The final took place on August 9. Rank Name Nationality TimeAlberto CovaITA28:01.04Werner SchildhauerGDR28:01.18Hansjörg KunzeGDR28:01.264Martti VainioFIN28:01.375Gidamis ShahangaTAN28:01.936Carlos LopesPOR28:06.787Nick RoseGBR28:07.538Christoph HerleFRG28:09.059Mohamed KedirETH28:09.9210Bekele DebeleETH28:11.1311Antonio PrietoESP28:11.5712Steve JonesGBR28:15.0313Mark NenowUSA28:17.2814Fernando MamedePOR28:18.3915Bill McChesneyUSA28:34.4616José GómezMEX28:42.6117Alberto SalazarUSA28:48.4218Henrik JørgensenDENDNS References Results Category:10,000 metres at the World Athletics Championships Category:Men's events at the 1983 World Athletics Championships