There was only one question floating around Seville yesterday morning. Was Tuesday's final the greatest 1,500 metre race ever run? In most cases, the answer was yes. Even accounting for the fiery atmosphere which was more like a Spanish bullfight, the statistics speak for themselves. Hicham El Guerrouj's winning time of three minutes 27.65 seconds was almost five seconds faster than the previous best championship winning time (Sebastian Coe's Olympic gold of 1984, won in 3:32.53).

Noah Ngeny's silver medal time of 3:28.73 was a Kenyan record while Reyes Estevez also recorded a personal best of 3:30.57 in third. In addition, the top 10 finishers all recorded the fastest time for their respective places.