On a night when the fairer sex outshone the men, Ireland's Sonia O'Sullivan began her attempt to become the first woman to take the 5,000 and 10,000 metres double by winning the longer race against a world-class field including Olympic champion Fernanda Ribeiro (Portugal).

The men's 100 metres went to Britain's Darren Campbell, who is coached by triple European 100 metres champion Linford Christie, in a championship record time of 10.04, ahead of teammate Dwain Chambers and Greece's world indoor 60 metres champion Haralambros Papadias.

The 24-year-old Arron, who broke Germany's Katrine Krabbe's eight-year championship record in the semi-finals with a time of 10.81, powered back in the final 40 metres to overhaul veteran Russian Irina Privalova in 10.73 and confirmherself as the biggest threat to Marion Jones' domination of the event.