He held his hands to his face in astonishment as he realised by how much he had eclipsed Kenya's Daniel Komen's 1996 mark of 7:20.67 over a distance which figures neither at the Olympics nor world championships.
The recently anointed 5,000m Olympic champion finished well clear of Ethiopian duo, Berihu Aregawi (7:21.28) and Yomif Kejelcha (7:28.44).