Ireland's Alistair Cragg finished just outside the medals in the final of the 3,000 metres at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow today.
The American-based star could not match the finishing speed of the first three home, particularly Kenenisa Bekele who produced an explosive attack towards the finishing line to win the race in seven minutes 39.32 seconds.
The victory sees the 23-year-old Ethiopian become the first man to win world outdoor, indoor and cross country gold medals, with a performance which stunned his rivals.
Bekele ran the last 400m in just 53 seconds, moving him well clear of Saif Saaeed Shaheen and Eliud Kipchoge, who fought for the silver medal.
The Qatar athlete clocked 7mins 41.8secs, while the Kenyan bronze medallist, the fastest man in the world this year, finished in 7:42.58 with Cragg fourth in 7:46.53.
"After winning titles outdoors and cross country, indoors is like a fun run for me," said Bekele, the reigning title holder for both disciplines.
Then came Cragg, his season interrupted by a foot injury and knowing the finishing pace of his three rivals, deciding to lead from the front.
The trio quickly latched on to his tactic as he slowed the pace with a first kilometre of just 2:43.8, before first Bekele at the halfway point, then Kipchoge went to the front.
The race's speed increased dramatically with Cragg hanging in extremely well, until Bekele produced his killer sprint to claim the achievement of winning gold medals in all three terrain disciplines.
Cragg's finish bodes well for Cragg for this summer's European Championships and is a welcome return to form after some disappointing early season runs.
Overall, this has been a fantastic championships for the Irish with Derval O'Rourke winning gold in the women's 60m hurdles yesterday, as well as James Nolan finishing sixth in the 1500m and Maria McCambridge's 10th in the 3000m.
The team will arrive back in Dublin tomorrow night from Moscow.
