Cacho, the Olympic champion in Barcelona, took control of the race with about 250 meters left and won easily in three minutes, 35.28 seconds. Teammate Isaac Viciosa was second, about three meters behind, with Branko Zorko of Croatia third.
Norway's Steinar Hoen won the high jump with 2.35, equalling his own national record.
Artur Partyka of Poland and Steve Smith of Britain tied for second at 2.33.
In other events Tuesday, Sari Essayah won the women's 10-kilometer walk to give her host Finland its first gold medal and Bulgarian Svetla Dimitrova took the women's 100 hurdles.
In the heptathlon, Braun trailed Russian Svetlana Moskalets by 42 points, entering the sixth of the seven events, the javelin. But Braun took advantage of a poor javelin throw by Moskalets to gain the lead, scoring more than 200 points better than Moskalets in the javelin. The Russian dropped to fifth place entering the final event, the 800 meters.
Braun held her advantage and won by 15 points ahead of Rita Inancsi of Hungary, with 6,419 points to 6,404. Ursula Wlodarczyk of Poland took third with 6,322.
Moskalets, despite finishing the 800 meters four seconds better than Braun, stayed in fifth, ending with 6,308, just missing Russian compatriot Larisa Turchinskaya's total of 6,311 in fourth.
Dimitrova won the hurdles in 12.72 over Yuliya Graudyn of Russia with Bulgarian teammate Yordanka Donkova third, both second and third timed in 12.93.
In the walk, Essayah had a championship record of 42 minutes, 37 seconds. She was the world champion last year.
Italian Annarita Sidoti edged Russian Yelena Nikolayeva for the silver medal, both finishing six seconds behind.
On Monday, Russia had a great day by winning three gold medals.
Irina Privalova, as expected, took the women's 100 in 11.02; Mikhail Shchennikov won the men's 20-kilometer walk in 1:18.45 and Ana Biryukova sailed 14.89 meters to win the women's triple jump.
Privalova, who set the European record of 10.77 earlier this season, finished ahead of Ukraine's Zhanna Tarnopolskaya, 11.10, and Melaine Paschke of Germany, third in 11.28.
Shchennikov, a four-time world indoor champion from Russia, set a championship record en route to his first major outdoor title.
It was sweet revenge for Shchennikov, who was disqualified in last year's worlds outside the stadium before the finish when he was in third place.
This time, he was more careful.
"One kilometer before the finish I had only been warned once, but at that time I was sure of my victory,'' he said.
Yevgeniy Misyulya of Belarus finished second in 1:19.22 and 1993 world champion Valentin Massana of Spain was a disappointing third in 1:20.33.
Biryukova confirmed her position as the world's top female triple jumper.
Inna Lasovskaya made it a Russian 1-2 finish with a wind-aided 14.85 and Ukraine's Inessa Kravets was third at 14.67.
Also Monday, Steve Backley took the javelin title, giving the hard-luck British team a further boost.
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