Phillips Idowu wins gold in World triple jump final

Phillips Idowu picked up Britain's second gold medal of the World Championships in Berlin in the men's triple jump last night as he improved on his silver at last year's Beijing Olympics. Idowu clinched his medal with a leap of 17.73m, a personal best and 18cm more than Nelson Evora, the Briton's conqueror in the Olympics, could manage.

Idowu's first two jumps of 17.51m and 17.44m were short of Evora first-round 17.54m, but the Briton gave his all on the third jump, taking off well behind the board to better his previous longest effort by five centimetres. Evora improved his distance by one centimetre in the final round but Idowu had done enough.

Elsewhere, world and Olympic women's 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu was unable to defend her crown, losing to perennial rival Sanya Richards of the United States. Ohuruogu's season had been hampered by injury and in the circumstances her fifth place in 50.21sec, her best time for the year, was impressive enough.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Anna Kessel, the Guardian: "For seven years now Idowu has been trying to break his own outdoor best, itching to get past the 17.68 set in 2002 when he again settled for silver at the Commonwealth Games. No matter his achievements, and they have been plentiful – Idowu has won a major gold medal every year since 2006 – it always felt as though something was missing, an inevitable side-effect of following the 18.29-metre man Edwards. Instead Idowu's dyed hair, his piercings, his clickety-clackety tongue ring, seemed to make a bigger impression on people than his achievements. It was a troubling dynamic."

Neil Wilson, Daily Mail: "Idowu's jump would have threatened the 18-metre barrier that only Edwards has ever breached had he landed his take-off foot closer to the plasticine that is the limit of the legal jump. Idowu took off 20 centimetres behind it, not even reaching the wooden take-off board. Evora's first attempt was 17.54. Idowu responded to that with an opener of 17.51 and landed another at 17.44 before his third struck gold. Evora improved by a single centimetre with his last jump but immediately acknowledged that he had been bettered by hugging Idowu and the Briton set off on a victory lap without bothering with his final jump."

Rick Broadbent, the Times: "Phillips Idowu finally showed his mettle as well as metal on the big stage. With red hair, white socks and a belated banishing of the blues, the triple jumper claimed his biggest title yet and said, almost dumbfounded: 'I’m the king of the world.' After Jessica Ennis’s success in the heptathlon, it meant that Great Britain had secured two gold medals at a World Championships for the first time since 1993, a healthy return on the pessimism of most predictions. It also enabled Idowu to go some way to getting the monkey off his back as he emerged from the shadow of Jonathan Edwards, twice a world champion and for ever a sandpit legend. "

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