Ibrahim Jeilan, the 2006 World Junior Champion, was an unexpected winner and Farah later remarked that he had never heard of him. Having felt overlooked for the Ethiopian team for the 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Championships, Ibrahim had moved to Japan to prepare himself away from the major circuit. It was the fifth consecutive time that an Ethiopian athlete had won the world title. Although Farah was the runner-up, he ran the second fastest time ever by a British athlete and became the country's first ever men's medallist in the event. Imane Merga's bronze was his first ever world medal on the track.