Eurosport -- Kenenisa Bekele kicked past an all-star 10,000-metre field to win gold at the Helsinki-hosted world championships Monday, the Olympic champion clocking 27 min 8.33 sec to best his Ethiopian countryman Sileshi Sihine. Kenya's Moses Mosop brought in the bronze.
After convincingly defending his world title, Bekele thwarted pundits' predictions that he would attempt a prestigious -- and leg-searing -- 10,000- and 5,000-metre double.
"No. I'm tired. I will not run the 5,000," the 23-year-old Bekele said, before adding, "It's been a very difficult year for me since the death of my fiancee."
The Ethiopian's season was nearly stillborn, Bekele shocked in January when his 18-year-old fiancee died during a training run.
Bekele took a few-weeks hiatus from training, but returned stronger than ever, notching wins at both the long- and short-course cross-country world championships.
RAIN GAMES
Wicked weather rolled into for Day 3 of the Helsinki world championships Monday, the Finland track soaked by intermittent spits of rain, which made things tricky for the evening's competitors.
"It was a very hard race because of the rain and we [the Ethiopian runners] weren't able to work together as much as we would have liked," Bekele said.
"I'm happy we got two medals."
Moses Mosop prevented an Ethiopian stranglehold on the race, the Kenyan out kicking Ethiopia's Abebe Dinkesa Negera for the bronze medal.
Negera, who set the pace for much of the race, eventually faded to seventh.
With both the men's and the women's 10,000 metres wrapped, Ethiopia claimed a stunning five of the six total medals available.
The African nation's women scored a clean sweep in the event on Saturday, with Tirunesh Dibaba, Berhane Adere and Ejegayehu Dibaba tallying gold, silver and bronze respectively.
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