Provided both come through Saturday evening's heats and Sunday's earlier semi-finals safely, then the race should, at least on paper, come down to a head-to-head between Usain Bolt and American Justin Gatlin.
Gatlin's teammate Tyson Gay is absent after testing positive for drugs, just as Bolt's compatriot Asafa Powell did, stripping the field of the closest competition to the headlined duo.
Ethiopian track star Tirunesh Dibaba will be the main attraction in the women's 10,000m as she seeks to add the world title to her two Olympic crowns over the distance -- she already twice won the world title in 2005 and 2009.
Defar failed to finish in Daegu, but she has the world's fastest time this year of 30:08.06, impressively the 10th-fastest performance of all-time and the best in the world for almost four years.