Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj atoned for his Olympic misery by claiming his third world 1,500m crown in emphatic fashion in Edmonton last night.
The world record holder, who unexpectedly missed out on an elusive Olympic gold when beaten by Kenya's Noah Ngeny in Sydney, never looked like suffering a repeat.
The 26-year-old could afford to kiss his gold chain in delight in the home straight to win in 3:30.68, with Kenya's Bernard and Driss Maazouzi of France taking silver and bronze respectively.
After the race El Guerrouj announced he would move up a distance to the 5,000m, in an acknowledgment that he would not now win the Olympic title over the distance he has dominated for the past five years.
Meanwhile, Britain suffered their worst performance in a major global championship for 25 years when they brought their eighth World Championship campaign to an end in Edmonton with just two medals.
The total was just one more than the Montreal Olympics in 1976, when Brendan Foster was the only athletics medallist.
Filed by Tom Grealis
