1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Men's 3000 metres

The men's 3000 metres event at the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships was held on 7–9 March 1997.

The winning margin was a decisive 4.13 seconds which as of July 2024 remains the only time the men's 3,000 metres was won by more than three seconds at these championships.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Haile Gebrselassie Ethiopia	Paul Bitok Kenya	Ismaïl Sghyr Morocco

Results

Heats

First 4 of each heat (Q) and next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	7:50.14	Q
2	2	Ismaïl Sghyr	Morocco	7:50.42	Q
3	2	Paul Bitok	Kenya	7:51.53	Q
4	2	John Mayock	Great Britain	7:51.69	Q
5	2	Saïd Chébili	France	7:52.55	q, PB
6	2	Massimo Pegoretti	Italy	7:52.60	q
7	1	Gennaro Di Napoli	Italy	7:52.72	Q
8	2	Anacleto Jiménez	Spain	7:52.95	q, SB
9	1	Moses Kiptanui	Kenya	7:52.98	Q
10	2	Sergey Drygin	Russia	7:53.99	q
11	1	Fita Bayisa	Ethiopia	7:53.24	Q
12	1	El Hassan Lahssini	Morocco	7:53.53	Q
13	1	Carlos García	Spain	7:54.01
14	2	Samuli Vasala	Finland	7:54.07
15	1	Robert K. Andersen	Denmark	7:54.72
16	1	Kamiel Maase	Netherlands	7:54.79	PB
17	1	Ian Grime	Great Britain	7:56.30	PB
18	2	Jason Bunston	Canada	7:56.75
19	1	Reuben Reina	United States	7:57.00
20	2	Ahmed Ibrahim Warsama	Qatar	8:00.64
21	1	Mark Ostendarp	Germany	8:02.47
22	2	Kent Claesson	Sweden	8:04.29
23	1	Mark Carroll	Ireland	8:05.49
24	2	Réda Benzine	Algeria	8:05.55
25	1	Cândido Maia	Portugal	8:06.58
26	1	Mark Hhawu	Tanzania	8:18.28
27	2	Marc Davis	United States	8:20.37

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	7:34.71	CR
	Paul Bitok	Kenya	7:38.84
	Ismaïl Sghyr	Morocco	7:40.01
4	Gennaro Di Napoli	Italy	7:41.05	NR
5	Moses Kiptanui	Kenya	7:41.87
6	John Mayock	Great Britain	7:44.31
7	Fita Bayisa	Ethiopia	7:49.47
8	El Hassan Lahssini	Morocco	7:50.54
9	Anacleto Jiménez	Spain	7:52.55	SB
10	Sergey Drygin	Russia	7:56.38
11	Saïd Chébili	France	7:58.57
12	Massimo Pegoretti	Italy	8:10.49