Almaz Ayana ran away from Genzebe Dibaba to deny her a rare double by winning the 5,000 metres world title in an Ethiopian podium sweep while Asbel Kiprop's 1,500m title helped Kenya clinch the medal table top spot for the first time on Sunday.
Ayana left Dibaba in her wake with 1,400m to go and Dibaba was also passed by Sebere Teferi as she had to settle for bronze instead of getting the first women's 1,500m/5,000m double at worlds or Olympics.
There was more joy for Ethiopia as Mare Dibaba, unrelated to Genzebe, topped a dramatic women's marathon; Germany's Kathrina Molitor stole javelin gold on the last attempt; Canada's Derek Drouin won a high-jump jump-off for gold; while the men's and women' 4x400m relays went to the US and Jamaica, respectively.
Kiprop's third 1,500m win in a row meanwhile assured his nation of the top spot in the medal table for the first time at a worlds or Olympics.
Kenya finished with a 7-6-3 haul for 16 medals from 47 events, ahead of Jamaica (7-2-3) and the United States who had 6-6-6 but the most medals overall on 18.
The Kenyan team surprised with the likes of javelin thrower Julius Yego but have also been hit by doping accusations and had two women's runners fail doping tests in beijing.
Kiprop was unstoppable again on the home stretch of the 1,500m as he completed his hat-trick in 3:34.40 minutes. Compatriot Elijah Manangoi stole silver on the finish line in 3:34.67, ahead of Morocco's Abdalaati Iguider who had bronze with 3:34.67.
Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria missed the podium in fourth place.
"I am so proud of myself to become a member of this exclusive club of three-times world champions," Kiprop said. "I came her not to run but to win."
Dibaba won the 1,500m in convincing style and in the 5,000m broke the field together with Ayana halfway through the race in cool conditions after a torrential mid-afternoon downpour.
But Ayana then kicked again with three-and-a-half laps left and was away, steadily increasing her lead and crossing the line in a championship record 14 minutes 26.83 seconds.
A tiring Dibaba also had to bow to Sebere Teferi on the home straight to take bronze, as they finished almost 20 seconds behind Ayana on 14:44.07 and 14:14.14 respectively.
"I had to win the gold medal. It was a hard race, a hard competition;" Ayana said.
Dibaba said she was bothered by a heel spur and thus "not deceived about this bronze. My country won three medals and I can only be pleased about it."
Mare Dibaba earlier gave Ethiopia a first women's marathon world title in a dramatic sprint to the finish line as she held off Kenya's Helah Kiprop in the final 100 metres in the Bird's Nest stadium after four runners had entered the tunnel into the arena together.
Dibaba won on a hazy but cool morning in 2:27:35 hours, Kiprop was one second behind and Eunice Kirwa took bronze for Bahrain in 2:27.39. Two-times defending champion Edna Kiplagat of Kenya came fifth.
"I am so happy to get the gold," Dibaba said. "I had confidence ... and I finished in a sprint. Winning this medal gave me a lot of energy for the lap of honour."
The Chinese fans were already celebrating what appeared gold for Lyu Huihui in the javelin when Molitor stunned them the last attempt of the javelin competition for gold in 67.69m.
Lyu had to settle for silver despite an Asian record 66.13m in the previous round, and Sunette Viljoen took bronze for South Africa with 65.79m.
"I cannot believe this. I always dreamed of a medal, no matter the colour," Molitor said.
The high jump provided similar drama when Drouin, Ukraine's Bohdan Bondarenko and China's Zhang Guowei all cleared 2.33 before failing on 2.36. Also tied on countback, a jump-off had to determine the winner.
Each failed on another jump on 2.36m so the bar was lowered again to 2.34 which only Drouin cleared while his rivals shared bronze.
In the women's relay, 400m winner Allyson Felix put the US ahead at the final exchange but Novlene Williams-Mills countered for Jamaica on the home stretch against Francena McCorory for victory in 3:19.13 to the Americans' 3:19.44. Britain took bronze.
The Americans got their revenge in the men's race with anchor LaShawn Merritt who got his eighth career gold in 2:57.82 from Trinidad and Tobago (2:58.20) and Britain (2:58.51).
Merritt now has eight career world titles and with a haul of 8-3-1 moved past Carl Lewis into third place all-time behind Usain Bolt (11-2-0) and Allyson Felix (9-3-1).
The worlds were to end with a closing ceremony, with the next edition set for 2017 in London.
