The difference this year was that Girma had taken down Saif Saaeed Shaheen's world record in Paris just over a month earlier.

After spending a couple of laps at the back of the pack, El Bakkali drifted up to mark Girma.

It wasn't the kind of breakaway speed the days of Ezekiel Kemboi, but El Bakkali pushed the backstretch to pull even with Girma with 200 to go.

[3] Even though El Bakkali slowed to wave at the crowd as he crossed the finish line, he still won by 10 metres.

Including the Olympics it was three global championships in a row to have El Bakkali first, Girma second and a Kenyan in third.