By David Martin, PA Sport

Few people will bet against Hicham El Guerrouj winning a fourth successive 1,500 metres title at the World Championships in Paris later this month.

The almost unbeatable Moroccan has already shown himself to be head-and-shoulders above the pack, with a world best performance for the year of three minutes 29.76 seconds when winning the Rome Golden League meeting.

It was achieved on the same Olympic track in the Eternal City five years ago, where El Guerrouj ran his world record of 3:26.00, which apart from himself only Bernard Lagat has come within a second of.

Not surprisingly, El Guerrouj, who has run 29 times under 3:30.00 for the metric mile, has been looking for new challenges - and Paris will also see the marvellous African compete over 5,000 metres.

El Guerrouj insisted: "The 1500 metres is my main distance in the World Championships. I will run 5000 metres too, but that is going to be a bonus."

Spectators in the small Czech Republic town of Ostrava saw El Guerrouj make his first tentative step at international level over 12 1/2 laps in June.

For four of the five kilometres, it appeared a historic debut was on the cards. But the last lap saw El Guerrouj, overtaken and outsprinted by Kenyan ace Stephen Cherono, who ran a world leading 12:48.41.

El Guerrouj is not used to losing, but was not downhearted by the defeat - indeed he was delighted with his "opener" of 12:50.24.

"I have to be pleased with what I achieved in Ostrava," said El Guerrouj on a recent visit to this country for the Gateshead Super Grand Prix.

"Because I am still concentrating primarily on 1,500 metres, I hadn't done any specific training for that distance.

"After the Olympic Games, I will take the 5,000 metres very seriously and prepare properly for it. For the moment, my heart remains with the 1,500 metres."

The morning after his Rome victory, sitting on a KLM jet from Amsterdam to Newcastle, El Guerrouj admitted: "I will be unable to rest until I have won the Olympic title."

A short pause ensues, El Guerrouj's mind clearly recounting how three years ago in Sydney he lost the gold medal to Kenyan Noah Ngeny, in the last few strides of their fascinating encounter.

Ironically in Sydney, it was his first defeat over 1,500m since losing at the Atlanta Olympic Games when falling at the bell - although over a mile he was beaten in the 1998 IAAF Grand Prix final.

His unbelievable record at 1,500m or a mile, now means El Guerrouj has won 75 of his 78 races over the distances, since Atlanta, where he looked a certainty for a medal.

On current form he seems set for even more glory at the World Championships - but even another gold medal will not compensate his ambitions of achieving the ultimate Olympic Games title next year in Athens.