ATHLETICS/World Championships:There is nothing more intoxicating in distance running than watching a World Championship 10,000 metres unfold in a hot, steamy stadium like we have here in Osaka. Pity the place was only half full, not that Kenenisa Bekele was bothered as he sprinted to a third straight title and maintained his incredible unbeaten run at the distance.

The way Bekele and the rest of the East Africans now dominate the event makes them seem like beings from another planet, which they might as well be given the rest of the world can hardly compete anymore. For the first time in a 10,000-metre final there were no Europeans, and the three Americans were eventually run well out of it.

It wasn't the easiest of Bekele's victories, however, as he had to dig deep to get past his Ethiopian compatriot Sileshi Sihine in the final 120 metres. He'd also looked under pressure from the Kenyan Martin Mathathi, who was still surging at the bell, but a 55.7 last lap and a time of 27:05.90 secured Bekele the gold. Sihine had to settle for second, his fifth silver in major championships, in 27:09.03. Mathathi was third in 27:12.17.

"With three laps to go, I was tired," admitted Bekele. "But after some minutes, my body started to recover a bit. I used everything I had to come back and when I caught Sileshi, of course, I had to pass him.

"Winning the world championship is fantastic for me. At the end of a race, if you have good speed, you can always win."

Zersenay Tadesse, Eritrea's world cross-country champion, tried to take the sting from the Ethiopians by leading for nine kilometres as the field stretched out behind like beads on a string - but ended up fourth in the business end of things.

It took a little longer to decide the winner of the women's 100 metres, even though the race itself last only 11.01 seconds.

A blanket finish of five runners had them working overtime in the photo-finish room, and after a couple of false starts - like when the American Torri Edwards was erroneously flashed up on the stadium scoreboard as the winner - the gold medal went, deservingly, to Jamaica's Veronica Campbell.

Campbell was given the same time as Lauryn Williams of the US, with the other American, Carmelita Jeter, actually taking third in 11.02 and Edwards being given fourth in 11.05, the same time as fifth-placed Kim Gevaert of Belgium. In other words, just four-hundredths of a second separated the top five.

For several minutes all five had paced around nervously, almost afraid to look at the scoreboard.

"It was one of my longest moments," Campbell later said. "I wasn't sure with the names going back and forth on the scoreboard but now I am so happy to win. I was very confident and positive. My start wasn't the greatest but I know I finished well."

Campbell shares a slightly embarrassing distinction with the men's 100-metre champion, Tyson Gay: their coach, Lance Brauman, missed the race because he was serving a nine-month sentence, which in fact ends today, at Texarkana Correctional Institute.

Earlier in the night, two typically explosive 1,500-metre semi-finals revealed some unexpected medal hopes, and appeared to dash those of others.

Alan Webb of the US, fastest in the world this year, struggled particularly badly in the second race, and after running at the very back for three laps finally entered the chase and only just made it into a qualifying position in fifth, running 3:41.08. Reportedly he was suffering from a cold.

Looking very impressive there was Bahrain's defending champion, Rashid Ramzi, formerly of Morocco, who supposedly came into these championships at 75 per cent fitness. If that's the case he's improved ridiculously fast and in what was only his second race of the season he took the win in 3:40.53, pulling away.

It was the other American Bernard Lagat, the here-we-go-again former Kenyan, who stole the show in the first semi-final, cruising home in 3:42.39 ahead of the teenage Kenyan hope Asbel Kiprop in third, while a major dust-up ensued in his wake.

France's Mehdi Baala - the 2003 silver medallist - originally took fourth, but was later disqualified for barging two other runners in the homestretch, colliding with Morocco's Youssef Baba, who went down.

Baba was reinstated, along Juan Carlos Higuero of Spain, while New Zealand's Nick Willis also benefited from Baala's disqualification to take the last automatic final spot. Anyway, expect further fireworks in tomorrow's final, especially if Ramzi pulls off another title.

Finally, the defending hammer champion, Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus, who was out of the medals with one round left, produced a 83.63-metre throw, a world-leading performance for 2007, to snatch the gold.

And Nelson Evora of Portugal had the triple-jump series of a lifetime, and after opening with a 17.41-metre leap he increased his lead to 17.74, his sixth national record, to take the gold.