1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 10,000 metres

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Men's 10,000 metres
at the 1983 World Championships
Venue Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Dates7 August (heats)
9 August (final)
Competitors37 from 27 nations
Winning time28:01.04
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg   Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
Silver medal icon.svg   Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany
Bronze medal icon.svg   Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany
1987  

These are the official results of the men's 10,000 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total number of 37 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats held on Sunday 7 August and the final held on Tuesday 9 August 1983.

Contents

The winning margin was 0.14 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 10,000 metres was won by less than a quarter of a second at these championships.

Records

Existing records at the start of the event.

World RecordFlag of Kenya.svg  Henry Rono  (KEN)27:22.4 Vienna, Austria June 11, 1978
Championship RecordNew event

Summary

With the best in the world filtered down to 18 finalists, there was still a traffic jam on the track. In the first 80 metres several athletes were jostled trying to find running room. Christoph Herle and Antonio Prieto found themselves lying on the track. Out of the chaos, Bekele Debele was far back in the string of competitors, speeding down the outside of the backstretch. This culminated with him taking over the lead for a short period of time before Gidamis Shahanga took over the point. Joined by Mohamed Kedir, the three Africans jockeyed for the lead marked most closely by Carlos Lopes. The African pace was not consistent, instead slowing until the field bunched then speeding up to disrupt the even pace most distance runners would prefer. With 6 laps to go, tall, long striding, home favorite Martti Vainio took charge with a 63 second lap, exciting the crowd and forcing the field the change their pace to catch back up. For three laps, Vainio held the lead but was looking for help that was not going to support him. With three laps to go, the pack was bunched tighter than ever, 13 athletes all within 10 metres. Again Kedir took the lead with Lopes almost attached to his shoulder. 50 metres before the bell, the pack was finally disrupted by Werner Schildhauer sprinting out to a 3 metre lead. His East German teammate Hansjörg Kunze and Vaino rushed to cover the break. Shahanga and Alberto Cova were the last to hang on to the breakaway down the final backstretch. With 200 to go, Schildhauer had 3 metres on Kunze who had another 3 metres on Vainio, with Shahanga and Cova respectively another 2 and 4 metres back. Through the final turn, all those distances began to compress. By the time they hit the final straightaway, they were in the same order but with a metre separating each. Each then pulled progressively wider, Cova all the way out to lane 4, so each could have running room for the sprint to the finish. Cova was clearly the faster sprinter, cruising past the field. Schildhauer and Kunze both leaned for the finish way too early, hoping the finish line would arrive sooner. The first four runners separated by a third of a second after 10,000 metres. The result was not exactly a surprise, it was the same result as the European Championships for Cova, Schildhauer, Vainio and 6th place Lopes, a year earlier, with the addition of Kunze and Shahanga. Minus the boycotting East Germans, Cova pulled the same stunt on Vainio in what turned into a match race at the 1984 Olympics. Days later, Vainio was later disqualified for doping.

Results

Heats

The qualifying heats took place on 7 August, with the 37 athletes involved being split into 2 heats. The first 5 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 8 fastest ( q ) qualified for the final.

RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
11 Fernando Mamede Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal  (POR)27:45.54Q, CR
21 Alberto Cova Flag of Italy.svg  Italy  (ITA)27:46.61Q
31 Gidamis Shahanga Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania  (TAN)27:46.93Q
41 Werner Schildhauer Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany  (GDR)27:47.03Q
51 Antonio Prieto Flag of Spain.svg  Spain  (ESP)27:47.34Q
61 Steve Jones Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain & N.I.  (GBR)27:47.57q
71 Bekele Debele Flag of Ethiopia (1975-1987).svg  Ethiopia  (ETH)27:49.30q
81 Mark Nenow Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)27:52.41q
92 Hansjörg Kunze Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany  (GDR)28:04.69Q
102 Carlos Lopes Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal  (POR)28:05.62Q
112 Nick Rose Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain & N.I.  (GBR)28:06.05Q
122 Christoph Herle Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany  (FRG)28:06.71Q
131 Henrik Jørgensen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark  (DEN)28:06.74q
142 Mohamed Kedir Flag of Ethiopia (1975-1987).svg  Ethiopia  (ETH)28:07.16Q
152 Martti Vainio Flag of Finland.svg  Finland  (FIN)28:07.47q
162 José Gómez Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico  (MEX)28:07.57q
172 Bill McChesney Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)28:08.13q
182 Alberto Salazar Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)28:10.10q
192 Steve Binns Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain & N.I.  (GBR)28:12.79
202 Peter Butler Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada  (CAN)28:13.16
212 Zakariah Barie Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania  (TAN)28:22.06
221 Rodolfo Gómez Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico  (MEX)28:25.38
231 John Treacy Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland  (IRL)28:35.58
242 Ahmed Musa Jouda Flag of Sudan.svg  Sudan  (SUD)28:38.03
251 Roy Andersen Flag of Norway.svg  Norway  (NOR)29:03.45
261 Boualem Rahoui Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria  (ALG)29:10.95
271 Domingo Tibaduiza Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia  (COL)29:23.86
282 Kunimitsu Ito Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan  (JPN)29:49.04
292 Ronald Lanzoni Flag of Costa Rica.svg  Costa Rica  (CRC)30:18.60
301 Antoine Nivyobizi Flag of Burundi.svg  Burundi  (BDI)30:45.10
311 Ramón López Flag of Paraguay (1954-1988).svg  Paraguay  (PAR)31:27.01
321 Said Toumane Flag of the Comoros (1992-1996).svg  Comoros  (COM)34:24.62
1 Markus Ryffel Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland  (SUI) DNF
2 Stanislav Rozman Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg  Yugoslavia  (YUG) DNF
1 Mehmet Yurdadon Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey  (TUR) DNS
2 Girma Berhanu Flag of Ethiopia (1975-1987).svg  Ethiopia  (ETH) DNS
2 Dietmar Millonig Flag of Austria.svg  Austria  (AUT) DNS

Final

The final took place on August 9.

RankNameNationalityTime
Gold medal icon.svg Alberto Cova Flag of Italy.svg  Italy  (ITA)28:01.04
Silver medal icon.svg Werner Schildhauer Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany  (GDR)28:01.18
Bronze medal icon.svg Hansjörg Kunze Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany  (GDR)28:01.26
4 Martti Vainio Flag of Finland.svg  Finland  (FIN)28:01.37
5 Gidamis Shahanga Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania  (TAN)28:01.93
6 Carlos Lopes Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal  (POR)28:06.78
7 Nick Rose Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain & N.I.  (GBR)28:07.53
8 Christoph Herle Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany  (FRG)28:09.05
9 Mohamed Kedir Flag of Ethiopia (1975-1987).svg  Ethiopia  (ETH)28:09.92
10 Bekele Debele Flag of Ethiopia (1975-1987).svg  Ethiopia  (ETH)28:11.13
11 Antonio Prieto Flag of Spain.svg  Spain  (ESP)28:11.57
12 Steve Jones Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain & N.I.  (GBR)28:15.03
13 Mark Nenow Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)28:17.28
14 Fernando Mamede Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal  (POR)28:18.39
15 Bill McChesney Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)28:34.46
16 José Gómez Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico  (MEX)28:42.61
17 Alberto Salazar Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)28:48.42
Henrik Jørgensen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark  (DEN) DNS

References