A little under an hour and a half after the Kenyan men swept the podium in the men’s steeplechase, the Russian women repeated the feat in the Long Jump.

Tatyana Lebedeva proved the class of the field putting on a demonstration, twice breaching the seven-metre barrier and producing the three longest jumps in the competition to add the World Long Jump title to her two World Triple Jump crowns.

The red-headed Lebedeva effectively secured victory with a second round leap of 7.03m. She matched that mark with her third attempt and the opposition simply evaporated under the pressure. It was all too easy.

Behind the dominant Lebedeva her team-mates left their best until the last round, as Lyudmila Kolchanova jumped 6.92m to shift medal positions from bronze to silver and Tatyana Kotova leapt 6.90m to add the bronze medal to her three Long Jump silvers medals in past championships.

This spelled despair for Portugal’s Naide Gomes, who was ousted in the final round from the long-held silver medal position to an agonising fourth.

For Lebedeva, who intends also to compete in tomorrow night’s Triple Jump qualification: “Today’s competition was difficult because the others were well-prepared and there were six jumpers with PBs over 7.00m. There was a lot of pressure on me. Tomorrow, I have Triple Jump qualification and Triple Jump is more important to me.”

The dozen finalists started the competition at 20:50 in marginally cooler conditions than the previous three days of the championships.

The blonde-haired German Bianca Kappler skipped with joy after she took an early first-round lead of 6.81m in the fourth jump of the competition.
 
But it was Naide Gomes, who held the first-round advantage after an eye-catching 6.87m leap from the former World Indoor Pentathlon champion.

In round two, Kolchanova leapt 6.84m to propel herself up to the silver medal position but it was her team-mate, Olympic champion Lebedeva who delivered the first decisive blow.

After a modest 6.73m opener the hitch-kicker powered out to 7.03m to take a clear 0.16cm lead after round two.

In the third round Lebedeva’s rivals were starting to feel the heat. Kolchanova fouled out and Kotova had to be satisfied with 6.75m – an attempt which was met with a frustrated shake of the head. Gomes could only muster 6.61m, and after the jump she was in an animated discussion with her coach.

The shaggy-haired Lebedeva further cemented her superiority by matching her second-round jump of 7.03m to the centimetre.

After three rounds the medal positions were held by Lebedeva in gold, Gomes in silver and Kolchanova in bronze. Defending champion Tianna Madison limped tamely out of the competition at the halfway stage - the out-of-form American down in tenth with a best of 6.47m.

A fitful fourth round witnessed little other than a 6.86m jump from Gomes, while in round five Lebedeva leapt out to 6.98m – the third longest jump of the competition.

In the final round Kotova and Kolchanova came to life to take the minor medals but Lebedeva remained head and shoulders above the opposition.

Osaka 2007 News Team/sl