Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei resisted the tactics of the Ethiopian team to claim gold in the men's Olympic 10,000 metres at the Stade de France.
The three-time world champion claimed victory on Friday with an Olympic record time of 26 minutes and 43.14 seconds.
Ethiopia's Berihu Aregawi edged out American Grant Fisher by two-hundredths of a second to take silver in 26:43.44.
The world record holder added the Olympic 10,000m title to his remarkable haul to claim the first track gold of the Games.
The Ugandan, who won silver in Tokyo and gold in the 5,000 metres, produced a devastating final 600 metres and his finishing time shaved 18 seconds off Kenenisa Bekele's 2008 Olympic record.
Aregawi, who had been part of a three-pronged Ethiopian group that led almost from the start, finished strongly.
A group of 13 athletes ran the last two-thirds of the race together and, remarkably, all finished in under 27 minutes.
The first boost came after just two laps of the 25-lap race, when defending champion Selemon Barega and his Ethiopian teammate Yomif Kejelcha accelerated to split the pack.
The field of 25 participants dissipated, but all the runners held on.
Aregawi had his turn after Kejelcha as the Ethiopian trio dictated the pace in front of a raucous crowd of almost 69,000 at the Stade de France in perfectly warm conditions.
Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo saw their team's tactics affected when Martin Magengo Kiprotich lost his rhythm early on.
Aregawi and Kejelcha picked up the pace again towards the middle of the stage, when the main group was reduced to 15.
Barega regained the lead with 10 laps to go, with Canadian Mohammed Ahmed and Kenyan Benard Kibet working their way through to sit on Kejelcha's shoulder.
As Cheptegei and Fisher worked their way through the pack, Kejelcha was again on hand to offer a boost of acceleration.
In the final kilometer, Aregawi took the lead, but the race promised a thrilling finish as the group of 12 held on.
Just before the bell rang for the final 400 meters, Cheptegei moved to the front and began the race for the finish line.
Ahmed followed and Fisher lost his rhythm, but made a remarkable recovery to take the medal.
There was no knockout blow for Barega, however, as Cheptegei claimed victory in the first medal event at France's national stadium.
Barega eventually finished seventh in 26:44.48, one place behind Kejelcha, with Ahmed in fourth and Kibet in fifth.
United States sets new world record in 4×400 mixed relay
Earlier on the purple track, the United States broke its own world record in the 4×400 mixed relay in the opening heats, crossing the finish line in three minutes and 7.41 seconds amid a festive atmosphere.
The previous record of 3:08.80 was achieved at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
Team USA led midway through the second lap in an exemplary performance, outpacing a fast field in the first heat in which four national records were broken in addition to the world mark.
“I always knew we were going to run fast and we talked about needing a record to win a medal,” said American Shamier Little. “A record was needed to win our preliminary.”
The French team were cheered on to the finish by an enthusiastic home crowd as they outpaced Belgium (3:10.74) and Jamaica (3:11.06) to finish second in 3:10.60 in a rarely contested event.
The crowd had to be silenced as they chanted for the French team on the opening day of the athletics programme at the Stade de France and erupted into a loud roar as France took a slender lead.
However, Little pulled ahead for the Americans and Bryce Deadmon extended the lead.
The Americans were eager to avoid the drama of three years ago, when they were disqualified from the Olympic final (and then reinstated due to a referee's error) before eventually claiming bronze.
