The two Portuguese runners who had qualified for the final, Antonio Leitão and Ezequiel Canario, clearly tried to exhaust the strongest pre-final favourites, such as Morocco's Saïd Aouita.

Canario set the stage for this classic showdown between Aouita, Leitão and Switzerland's Markus Ryffel by taking the lead already on the first bend.

During the third kilometre, Leitão and Canario alternated in the lead, while Ireland's Raymond Flynn and Britain's Eamonn Martin started to struggle.

Between 3,400 and 3,800 metres, also Kenya's Wilson Waigwa, Canario, the United States' Doug Padilla and Walker had to let the six-man lead group escape from them.

Aouita, Ryffel, Britain's Tim Hutchings, Kenya's Paul Kipkoech and another Kenyan, Charles Cheruiyot, were still following Leitão.