Mo Farah put a summer of speculation behind him to defend his 10,000 metres title at the World Championships in Beijing.
The 32-year-old made it half-a-dozen world titles as he burst away from the twin Kenyan challenge of Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor and Paul Tanui down the home straight.
Farah has endured a tumultuous year, with doping allegations surrounding his coach Alberto Salazaar, but he has not lost his aura of invincibility on the track as he came home in 27 minutes 01.13 seconds.
Farah was in a pack of five well clear of the field for most of the race, also including American Galen Rupp, his training partner in Portland, and, ominously, three Kenyan team-mates.
The Briton kicked to the front with a lap to go and, although the Kenyans tried to respond, they simply could not match his finishing speed as he came home with more than half a second to spare at Beijing's Birds Nest stadium.
"I knew the guys were going to do that, too many years now they've left it slow so they had to do it and it did happen," Farah told the BBC. "It was a matter of digging in there and hopefully it didn't take it too much out of me. It's not easy running 27 minutes in this heat."
Next up for Farah is the 5,000 metres, victory in which will see him become the first man to complete a 5,000 and 10,000m double at consecutive World Championships.
"I've got to recover, do everything that I can and hopefully get ready for the 5,000m," Farah added.