Bridesmaid wins Gold

US nearly-man Adam Nelson finally lost his bridesmaid tag with a superb gold in the Shot Put on Saturday. An astonishing quintet of first-round throws saw the charismatic American throw a season's best of 21.73m almost immediately after a delighted Rutger Smith made 21.29m.

Neither the popular Dartmouth College graduate nor Dutchman Smith could better these first round throws, and no-one really got close, but the battle for bronze was an enthralling one that saw Ralf Bartels of Germany edge out Olympic champ Yuriy Bilonoh with a final-round throw of 20.99.

Earlier in the day Shot Put legend John Godina failed to qualify, citing fitness troubles when he could only muster a disappointing 19.54m. Top qualifier Christian Cantwell (21.11) couldn't quite reach his earlier heights but a decent opening effort of 20.87 saw him claim a respectable fifth.

Britain's Paula Radcliffe failed in her attempt to get a double gold in the distance events after she was out-foxed and out-sprinted by some great Ethiopian teamwork in the 10,000m.

She led from the start but, having failed to establish the trademark lead she requires to win the shorter races, dropped to the back of the leading pack of 9 just past the half-way mark. Despite a late revival, the lead was exchanging hands far too frequently and, never a sprinter, she lost out to an Ethiopian 1-2-3 after they pulled away at 400m pace for the last lap.

Tirunesh Dibaba completed the final lap in under a minute to get gold while her cousin Ejegayehu took bronze, sandwiching compatriot Berhane Adere in a world-class time of 30:24.02.

Ecuador's Jefferson Perez won the first gold medal of the World Championships in Helsinki when he retained his title in the men's 20 km walk in a time of one hour 18 minutes 35 seconds.

The pre-race favourite Francisco Javier Fernandez of Spain led for most of the race before finishing second behind Perez, a repeat of the Paris championships two years ago.

Spain's Juan Manuel Molina took the bronze in a race which saw a number of disqualifications including Ilya Markov of Russia and a then third-placed Rolando Saquipay of Ecuador, both after receiving three warnings.

Olympic high jump champion Yelena Slesarenko injured her left foot in qualifying and will take no further part in the World Championships. The 23-year-old has cleared two metres this season, second only to Sweden's world leader Kajsa Bergqvist.

"I've had problems with my ankle and I hurt it in the Athletes Village," Slesarenko said. "I received medicine for it but I cannot run with it."

In qualifying, favourites Viktoriya Styopina, Kasja Berqvist and Amy Acuff struggled and were fortunate to go through, failing to reach the qualifying height of 1.93 and stuck with a group of women at 1.91, only to get to the final due to superior cards.

The semi finals of the men's 100m will take a familiar shape as the favourites eases through, the only surprises being the second round capitulations of Mark Lewis-Francis and Obadele Thompson.

Olypic champ Justin Gatlin cruised to victory in his quarter final in 10.27, running into a nasty headwind and afterwards claiming,

"Tomorrow I'm going to come out blazing. Rain, sleet snow it doesn't matter, I'm going to win the gold medal."

Fastest qualifiers were Darrel Brown and Ronald Pognon , in 10.10 and 10.11 repectively, with Shaun Crawford, Francis Obikwelu, Jason Gardner and Aziz Zakari also making the semis. Reigning world champion Kim Collins, who has been struggling for form recently, only made it as a fastest loser.

France's Eunice Barber leads defending world champion Carolina Kluft after four events of the heptathlon competition in Helsinki on Saturday. "I had a good and bad day," said Kluft, who twisted her left ankle after falling awkwardly in vaulting a hurdle in training on Friday.

"I'm not disappointed [at not leading], I'm just trying my best."

Barber is on 3,973 points, with Kluft on 3,971 with Great Britain's Kelly Sotherton (pictured) in third place on 3,817.

"It's going to be a big, big show tomorrow," said Barber, the 1999 world champion.

"The first day is always delicate for me. Tomorrow, I have to jump well, throw well and run well. My nerves are under control and I'm going to stay focused."

The 30-year-old Barber ran a season's best of 12.94 seconds in the hurdles and followed up by equaling her 2005 best in the high jump with a 1.91-metre leap.

Kluft failed with three attempts at 1.85 metres in the high jump and had to be content with 1.82. The Swede bounced back, however, recording a lifetime best of 15.02 metres in the shot put.

Her effort sailed 25 centimetres further than her previous mark of 14.77, which she set on the way to the gold medal in Athens last year.

Barber, not to be outdone, weighed in with another season's best in her least favourite event. Her lead of 32 was cut down to two points in the last event of the day, Kluft clocking 23.70 to Barber's 24.01 in the 200 metres. Barber benefited from the swirling wind conditions, which saw Kluft and Sotherton runnning into a headwind for the best part of their race in the quickest group, with the powerful Frenchwoman using her strength to finish a good second ahead of the rest of her field.

The final three events, the long jump, javelin and 800 metres, take place on Sunday, with both Barber and Kluft excelling in the two field events.

Daniel Kipchirchir Komen the first big name to fall in the 1500m, forced down to fifth in a sprint finish atthe end of a race so slow that the top 10 in the other heat made the final... No surprises in the 400m hurldes heats as Kerron Clement holds off Felix Sanchez in their race... Lebedeva and Smith do just enough to qualify for women's triple jump final, passing after first round jumps... Vadim Devyatovskiy leads the charge in the men's hammer, the Bulgarian throwing 81.20m in his second round throw... Tatyana Cherokasova the quickest qualifier in the women's 800m which sees Briton Susan Scott through...