Going into this lap, Portugal's Carla Sacramento held the lead, with Poland's Lidia Chojecka on the outside and America's Suzy Favor-Hamilton edging ahead on the inside.

Over the next 200 metres, Favor-Hamilton edged ahead of Sacramento while a pack of six formed behind, led by Algeria's Nouria Mérah-Benida.

The Algerian runner was tiring fast, but she managed to hold off Szekely's furious charge, crossing the line 0.05 seconds ahead.

All the way down the straightaway, Dulecha looked like she would hold on for the bronze – but from last place with 200 metres to go, Gabriela Szabo came sprinting down the outside to take the medal, meaning that there were two Romanians on the podium.

Only 0.23 seconds separated the first four runners – but none of them were directly battling the others, each taking a different pace and path to the tight finish.