Gebrselassie targets gold

By Tom Fordyce BBC Sport at the Stade de France

Olympic champion Haile Gebrselassie is determined to win back the World 10,000m title he lost in such dramatic fashion two years ago.

Gebrselassie is a distance-running legend

The Ethiopian, considered by many to be the greatest distance runner of all time, could manage only third at the last World Championships, ending an unprecedented run of four consecutive world titles stretching back to 1993.

His critics say that, aged 30, he no longer has the speed which made him the dominant force over 5,000m and 10,000m in the past decade.

But Gebrselassie himself insists that the old magic is still there - and that he will strike gold once again on Sunday night in the Stade de France.

"I feel good," Gebrselassie told this website. "It is difficult to say if I am the favourite, but I am running well and everything is going well.

"Winning back my title is the reason I'm still running over 10,000m. I'm ready."

Gebrselassie had planned to switch to marathons after the last Worlds, but his debut over 26 miles in London last April did not go as expected.

Young pretenders

He finished third behind Khalid Khannouchi and his old rival Paul Tergat - and that pushed him back towards the track.

But there are a pack of younger pretenders out to spoil his party.

The man who beat him in Edmonton, Kenya's Charles Kamathi, is in Paris to defend his title - and then there is the man dubbed the new Gebrselassie, 21-year-old Kenenisa Bekele.

"Of course Bekele is dangerous," said Gebrselassie. "And the Kenyans will be very tough to beat.

"But I am feeling fit, and I hope I can beat them on Sunday."