Doha 05/05/2023. The world indoor 3000m record holder had sat towards the back of the field early on alongside Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR), the Olympic and world 3000m steeplechase champion. At that point, only Berihu Aregawi (ETH) had gone with the pace.
As El Bakkali started to move slowly through the field, Aregawi, alongside Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega (ETH), had created a slight gap at the front. Aregawi continued to push the pace, but with three laps to go, Girma was on his shoulder. Girma eventually took the lead at the bell and pulled away for the win. Barega finished second in a lifetime best of 7:27.16, with Aregawi in third (7.27.61).
Andreas Almgren (SWE) and Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui (TUN) ran national records of 7:37.05 and 7:37.56 for seventh and eighth respectively.