Josh Kerr ran the race of his life to keep the world 1500m title in Scottish hands and shock favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
The Olympic bronze medallist pulled off a perfect tactical race, forcing the Norwegian into a change of pace on the last lap and taking victory in a time of 3:29.38.
Crossing the line with his rivals a stride behind, the Edinburgh star cupped his hand to the crowd and roared in celebration as the great Seb Coe draped a gold medal over his neck.
Kerr followed in the footsteps of 2022 gold medallist Jake Wightman in bringing down Ingebrigtsen and became the third British man to be crowned world champion over the metric mile.
"I just threw my whole 16 years of this sport in that last 200 metres and didn't give up until the end," said Kerr. "I'm so proud of my team and my family they got me here.
"I didn't feel like I ran the best race either! I was battling with Jakob pretty hard and throwing everything I could at the guy.
"We were both hurting and I was just like, 'I've wanted this for my whole life and I'm not letting anyone get in the way of that.' I'd be proud of giving everything I had in this situation if that was gold, silver, bronze. But I've had the bronze and the gold is a lot sweeter.”
Kerr has never lacked confidence but needed all of his bottle to slay the biggest middle-distance dragon in the land.
Ingebrigtsen looked to dominate the race from the front within the first lap alongside Kenya’s Abel Kipsang, with Giffnock's Neil Gourley on the inside and Kerr a couple of strides behind him. Kerr took closer order as they went round for the penultimate lap, slowly gaining and right alongside the Olympic champion as they took the bell. Just as Wightman had done a year earlier in Eugene, Kerr struck for home with around 200 metres to go and broke Ingebrigtsen as they came down the straight.
Having finished sixth and fifth in his last two World Championship finals, Kerr took victory by 0.27 seconds with Ingebrigtsen settling for silver in 3:29.65 and fellow Norwegian Narve Gilje Nordas bronze.
Gourley crossed the line in ninth place in a time of 3:31.10, disappointing by his own showing but heaping praise on champion Kerr.
"It was a hard race," said Gourley. "I thought I was making the right moves and cutting people off but I didn't have much left when it came to the last 300 metres, unfortunately. I'm really proud of Josh. I felt like this was possible for him, I know how hard he works and he really deserves it."
Earlier, Keely Hodgkinson welcomed the arrival of Athing Mu after reports that her American arch rival would not make the start line in Budapest.
Hodgkinson cruised through her 800m heat in 1:59.53 and Mu did the same despite suggestions from her coach Bobby Kersee that she might stick to training rather than defend her title.
“I was confused when I first heard (Mu might not compete),” said Hodgkinson. “I don’t think we know the full story of what’s going on with her. I’m glad to see she’s turned up, hopefully she’s healthy.”
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