1997 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 10,000 metres

None The men's 10,000 metres event featured at the 1997 World Championships in Athens, Greece. There were a total number of 33 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats and the final being held on 6 August 1997. The question was, how to beat the Olympic Champion and new World Record holder Haile Gebrselassie. The pack, led by Kenyans Paul Koech and Dominic Kirui jogged around the track for almost 15 laps with a few constants; Gebrselassie was marking the leader from second or third place, and everybody else was jockeying for position to be near him. With ten laps to go, previous world record holder Salah Hissou made a more serious move to the front, the pace quickened by four seconds a lap and all the contenders reacted. Hissou only held the lead for a lap before dropping back but the faster trend continued and the pack dwindled to six. Even Kirui dropped off the back, but Koech continued to lead with his teammate Paul Tergat focused on Gebrselassie's back. The pace gradually slowed slightly, while Hissou and Domingos Castro took their turns behind Gebrselassie as the laps diminished. With two laps to go, Hissou and Castro boxed Gebrselassie and moved around him, that lasted for about 100 metres before Gebrselassie simply ran around them assuming a defensive position on Koech's outside shoulder. 550 metres before the finish, Gebrselassie took off, opening up a 10-metre gap before he reached the straightaway. For Gebrselassie, it was an easy last lap, almost a victory lap while still in competition. Tergat and behind him Hissou launched into their best last lap kicks, but it was far too little and too late to catch Gebrselassie. Tergat separated from Hissou for silver. Final RANKFINALTIMEImage:Med 1.pngHaile Gebrselassie ETH 199627:24.58Image:Med 2.pngPaul Tergat KEN27:25.62Image:Med 3.pngSalah Hissou MAR27:28.674.Paul Koech KEN27:30.395.Assefa Mezgebu ETH 199627:32.486.Domingos Castro POR27:36.527.Habte Jifar ETH 199628:00.298.Julio Rey ESP28:07.069.Stefano Baldini ITA28:11.9710.Darren Wilson AUS28:20.1611.Kamiel Maase NED28:23.3012.Dominic Kirui KEN28:28.1313.Abderrahim Zitouna MAR28:29.0914.Hendrick Ramaala RSA28:33.4815.Tendai Chimusasa ZIM28:55.2916.Carsten Eich GER28:59.3417.Said Berioui MAR29:22.0518.José Ramos POR29:49.00—Toshinari Takaoka JPNDNS—Mohammed Mourhit BELDNS Qualifying heats Held on Sunday 1997-08-03 RANKHEAT 1TIME1.Domingos Castro POR28:07.04 2.Mohammed Mourhit BEL28:12.02 3.Said Berioui MAR28:12.33 4.Carsten Eich GER28:12.46 5.Paul Koech KEN28:13.24 6.Assefa Mezgebu ETH 199628:13.95 7.Paul Tergat KEN28:13.98 8.Salah Hissou MAR28:15.09 9.José Ramos POR28:20.06 10.Carlos de la Torre ESP28:20.50 11.Toshiyuki Hayata JPN28:27.97 12.Dan Middleman USA28:56.76 13.Marco Condori BOL29:51.24 14.Agustin Moran PAN30:12.32 RANKHEAT 2TIME1.Haile Gebrselassie ETH 199627:55.36 2.Habte Jifar ETH 199627:55.71 3.Dominic Kirui KEN27:56.62 4.Abderrahim Zitouna MAR27:57.11 5.Darren Wilson AUS27:57.54 6.Kamiel Maase NED27:57.78 7.Julio Rey ESP28:03.36 8.Hendrick Ramaala RSA28:05.70 9.Toshinari Takaoka JPN28:07.36 10.Stefano Baldini ITA28:07.81 11.Tendai Chimusasa ZIM28:14.03 12.Mohamed Ezzher FRA28:47.48 13.João N'Tyamba ANG29:38.92 14.Brad Barquist USA29:43.01 15.Margarito Zamora MEX29:52.03 16.Panagiotis Charamis GRE30:08.60 17.Georges Richmond TAH31:48.17 —Carlos Patrício PORDNF —Zoltán Káldy HUNDNF See also 1996 Men's Olympic 10.000 metres References Results Category:10,000 metres at the World Athletics Championships