TOKYO, Japan (AFP)-France’s Jimmy Gressier pulled off a huge upset by winning the men’s 10,000m at the world championships in Tokyo on Sunday.

In the absence of Uganda’s three-time winner Joshua Cheptegei, a new world champion was waiting to be crowned but all the money was on one of the powerful Ethiopian trio.

Berihu Aregawi, winner of multiple global silver medals, was targeting his first major gold, while Yomif Kejelcha and Selemon Barega, winner of the Olympic title here in 2021, also fancied their chances.

But they had not counted on Gressier’s turn of pace come the home straight after 25 laps of the National Stadium.

The Frenchman won in 28min 55.77sec, with Kejelcha taking silver 0.07sec adrift and Sweden’s Andreas Almgren claiming bronze (28:56.02).

It was a first European victory over the distance since Somalia-born Briton Mo Farah in 2017 — he also won in 2013 and 2015. Italian Alberto Cova won the event at the inaugural edition of the worlds in 1983.

“This is a child’s dream come true,” said Gressier. “I always believed that an athlete, once he steps on the track, can achieve great things. This is what has characterised my career.

“Some may have doubted my finish, but I always believed in myself. I said I would run here for a medal. On the home stretch, I moved to third, then second and then gold.”

– More controlled –
Gressier revealed that Norway’s middle-distance star Jakob Ingebrigtsen had given him some advice.

“He told me I was training too hard. I made a few changes to my training, to be more controlled,” he said. “I had a lot of mental energy for the final lap and it helped me today.”

Kenya’s Edwin Kurgat pushed the pace through the halfway mark of the 25-lap race in hot and humid conditions.

His surge failed to drop runners from the pack, however, and American Grant Fisher took over in the lead at a much slower pace that saw the pack once again bunch up.

Almgren led with four laps to run, the Ethiopians biding their time and energy at the heart of the peloton.

With 800m to go, Almgren accelerated and the elbows came out as jostling commenced for better positions to launch a definitive attack.

Barega, with Aregawi and Kejelcha on his shoulder, went through the bell together.

Fisher responded to Kejelcha at 150 metres, but as the athletes fanned out for a better line Gressier raced through from out of nowhere in fourth for a stunning victory that left him totally shocked and in tears.

“My biggest mistake was that I reacted to Gressier’s spurt too late,” bemoaned Kejelcha, a two-time silver medlalist at the 2019 world championships in Doha.

“My coach told me that 200m before the finish will be the crucial point of our race and I should be ready for any movement of my rivals.

“But I missed Jimmy’s kick exactly at the 9,800m mark. It cost me gold.”