In the 1,500m, Hicham El Guerrouj is the outstanding favourite especially as Noah Ngeny, the Olympic champion who dramatically beat him in Sydney has been de-selected by Kenya for disciplinary reasons.

It was academic really as Ngeny was not running so well.

El Guerrouj in contrast is back to his very best form and comfortably won the mile at Crystal Palace just 10 days ago in 3min 49.

Watch out too for Ali Saidi-Sief of Algeria. He's a bit of a dark horse at 1,500m in major championships at least.

He selected badly for his event in Sydney and came second in the 5,000m but he has been unbeatable at 1,500 this season though he hasn't met El Guerrouj and that promises to be one of the great challenges of these championships.

Europeans, however, have an outstanding talent in Rui Silva of Portugal. He is a small powerfully-built guy and is third fastest in the world this eyar.

But at Monte Carlo in July, he looked fabulous in winning in 3min 30.3 and could possibly outsprint El Guerrouj in a tactical race.

Bernard Lagat is the man who replaced Ngeny in the Kenyan team and Lagat will be running very, very hungry and aggressive.

Jose Redolat of Spain won at Stockholm in a quick time and the Spaniards love their racing and the French have an North African import Mehdi Baala, who was fifth in Monaco in a very fast time and has the 800m speed to cause a surprise in a slow run race.

El Guerrouj, however, has to make sure these championship finals are fast and I think he will win with Saddi Sikh and Silva picking up the other medals.