These are the official results of the men's 10,000 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

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.

His East German teammate Hansjörg Kunze and Vaino rushed to cover the break.

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.

Minus the boycotting East Germans, Cova pulled the same stunt on Vainio in what turned into a match race at the 1984 Olympics.