Irving Saldino made history as the first Panamanian World Champion and only the fifth ever gold medallist in the history of the event after a dramatic final round.

Saladino had led comfortably since the third round with 8.46m but Andrew Howe ignited a hitherto unremarkable final by moving from fourth to first with a sensational Italian record of 8.47m on his last jump.

The American-born Howe, the European champion, burst into a frenzy of excitement, whipped off his shirt and beat his chest in celebration as he, and virtually everyone else in the Nagai Stadium, assumed it would prove the gold medal-winning leap.

But in the final jump of the competition the cool-headed Saladino chose the perfect moment to better his own national record and snatch gold back with 8.57m. He joins the exclusive club of Carl Lewis, Mike Powell, Ivan Pedroso and Dwight Phillips as World men’s long jump champions.

Phillips was thwarted in his attempts to claim a hat-trick of world titles and the US athlete had to settle for bronze with 8.30m.

The gold medal is no less than Saldino deserved after dominating the world of long jumping for the past two seasons. Last year the Brazilian-based electrical engineering student won 15 out of 17 events and this year, discounting qualification, the Panamanian jumping Jack remains unbeaten.

The competition started modestly with only two 8.00m-plus jumps in the first round, coming from the two oldest athletes in the field. Jamaican James Beckford, competing in his sixth World Championship final, jumped 8.09 to take an early lead while Phillips let out a scream of delight as he took the first round lead with 8.30m.

By contrast Saladino rolled his eyes in frustration after a first round jump in the 8.50m range was ruled out by a red flag.

The quality of the competition moved up a notch in round two. Olexiy Lukashevych of Ukraine leapt into second with a season’s best 8.17m, although he was swiftly relegated to the lowest tier of the podium after Saladino found his form.

The Panamanian, who had looked a little sluggish during qualifying, soared out to 8.30cm – precisely the same distance as Phillips – although the shake of the hand from side to side suggested there was more to come.

Howe shifted up into fourth with 8.13m while Phillips could only respond to the Saladino threat with a foul.

Saladino took a clear lead with his third attempt, nailing 8.46m. He moved his thumb and fore finger apart to indicate the distance he thought he'd edged ahead of Phillips. With the tables now turned, Phillips appeared tense on the approach and the strain of chasing rather than leading started to tell as he committed a second successive foul.

South African Godfrey Mokoena, the longest qualifier, nudged Lukashevych out of bronze with an 8.19m leap.

An unremarkable round four witnessed no change in the medal order as the surviving eight jumpers almost took a breather. The only jump of significance came from Beckford, who catapulted into fourth with an 8.17m leap – his fourth successive eight-metre jump.

The penultimate round saw an increasingly competitive battle for bronze and only three centimetres separated third to sixth going into the last round. The consistent Beckford repeated his 8.17 distance before Howe crept ahead of Mokoena into bronze and raised an arm in celebration after being credited with 8.20m.

Lukashevych started the final round heroics by moving into bronze medal with a season’s best leap of 8.25m. But Howe was to ensure the Ukrainian’s night would end without precious metal.

Osaka 2007 News Team/sl